


The Sea Traveler

by susiedrae



Series: Umi Ryokou [1]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Adventure, Canon-Typical Violence, Comfort, F/M, Fuinjutsu, Hurt, Original Female Character - Freeform, Second Shinobi War, Uzumaki fic, Uzushio, Uzushiogakure, War
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-05
Updated: 2016-09-05
Packaged: 2018-08-13 06:42:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 15
Words: 39,022
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7966534
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/susiedrae/pseuds/susiedrae
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After a brutal preemptive strike, survivors of Uzushio struggle to escape the ruins of their island nation as the Second Shinobi War begins. Leading her people to their steady ally Konoha, new master Uzumaki Suki finds herself conflicted with her desire to protect her people and protect her new friends, the Sannin. But danger lurks in the shadows of the Leaf.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

I hummed happily, lazily tracing the ancient sealing array on the floor beneath me. I would have to labor over this seal in just a few short weeks, but for now I could simply enjoy its complexity.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" a familiar voice said close behind me. I nodded slowly, turning to face the man who had been my shishou since I first began my apprenticeship on my seventh birthday ten years ago. Uzumaki Kizu looked past me to the sealing array with a look I rarely saw on his face. There was a softness in his pale brown eyes that I hardly ever got to see, even as his student, that forced me look past the extensive scarring covering much of his face. He was once a handsome man, I knew, but he had been caught on the wrong side of a vicious attack. It had been a case of mistaken identity and friendly fire, if I had heard the story correctly. Kizu did not hate the Konoha shinobi who had burned him so harshly, though. Kizu always said to learn from one's mistakes. He did, and even changed his name to acknowledge the mistake he made but would not repeat. "This sealing array, the All Seal, is the secret to our village's fuinjutsu. It is this array, discovered generations ago, that keeps the lifeblood of our village flowing through our veins. It gives us longer life, a stronger will, and a fiercer ambition above all others."

I knew the story as every other apprentice did. When the first Uzumakis found this island, they discovered this array, carved deep into a slab of rock. They took the slab and moved it to the site of the foundation to Uzushiogakure, building the village around it. They didn't notice, at least at first, the energy that seeped from the massive seal. With years, though, they began to notice themselves changing, but they could still not understand the changes that took place, the changes that made their bodies stronger against harm, their elders and children safer from the diseases plaguing the nearby villages. According to legend, it continued that way until the founder of the current era of Uzushio shinobi, Uzumaki Kaishi, sat before the seal and stared at its sloping angles, interlocking patterns, and complex symbols for six days, entranced by the intricacies of the array and unable to look away. On the seventh day, when he could finally avert his eyes from it, he saw the world with new eyes, able to understand, at last, all of the changes that had happened to his people. He was the first man, since the Sage of Six Paths, to wield the power of fuinjutsu.

When Kaishi took leadership of the village after the death of his father, he began instructing the young of the village to understand the mechanics of fuinjutsu. Since then, it has been tradition for each apprentice to aim to understand the seal. It took most apprentices days or even weeks to understand the array but, when they did, they could be fully recognized as masters.

Since the days of Kaishi, the All Seal was moved out of the village. Instead of being located in the village's center, it was relocated to a more remote and guarded stone shrine. The shrine, placed on a low mountaintop overlooking the village, was shaped into a large rotunda with a wide oculus located directly above the All Seal, allowing light to illuminate the seal. Seals carved into the stone around the oculus absorbed rainwater where it was transferred into pipes worked into the stone that carried it to the ground so that water couldn't erode the array that gave so much to Uzushio. Everyone living within Uzushio's walls had visited the shrine at one point or another. Some went to the All Seal to pray, some to mourn, and some to welcome new life.

"It will soon be your turn to look to the seal," Kizu continued in a low voice. "... You have made your clan proud," he said with a small smile. I returned the smile easily before looking back towards the seal.

"I haven't finished yet, Shishou."

Feeling the air shift behind me, I ducked, just in time to avoid the strike Kizu sent at the back of my head. I was about to comment on how slow he seemed before a kick I hadn't noticed him deliver sent me stumbling towards the floor. Turning my head, I glared at him while he laughed.

* * *

I walked through the gauntlet of masters to the entrance to the Shrine where Kizu was waiting to give me the last words he would give as my master. As I walked up to face him, I tried to count the number of masters present. If I was right, it seemed that nearly everyone had come out to see me and, hopefully, to greet me as one of them when my time before the All Seal was ended.

"I would wish you luck, but you don't need it," Kizu smiled wryly. I bowed my head, hiding my own smile. To my surprise, my shishou moved his hand to my chin, forcing my head up so that his eyes could meet mine. "You have grown, Suki. And I know that you will only continue to grow."

I knew it was true. I was something far more than the small child he first met, desperate to prove herself to her clansmen. Gone was the self consciousness, the hesitancy, and the second guessing of that child. Uzumaki Suki was now a proud kunoichi of Uzushiogakure, one of its rising jounin, and soon to be the youngest master- if all went well- in over thirty years.

Even knowing that, it was hard to not to notice as the heavy doors closed shut with a very solid thunk that echoed with a soft finality. The next time those doors would be opened, I would either be a master or I would be on death's door. Once the ceremony's begun, the doors could only be opened for me to leave after finishing, or if I was in desperate need of medical attention. It didn't happen often, but it had happened to apprentices in the past. Being so close to the life-giving seal for such a long time meant that you could survive with neither food or water, but it did take its toll after too long.

Taking a deep breath, I walked towards the sealing array carved into the stone that I, just days ago, had traced aimlessly. Now, I had only one goal in mind: understanding.

I settled myself in front of the stone and waited.

As I stared into the carved array, the grey marble slowly came alive with color. If I blinked, it would disappear just as quickly, though. The longer I stared, the more vibrant the colors became.

The array wasn't a single entity.

Interwoven in a delicate pattern were dozens of seals that all worked together to provide... I couldn't even put names to all of their purposes. Some of them were protection wards I myself had studied. Others seemed intertwined with the natural chakra permeating the island. Some attracted possible allies and food sources, other repelled fierce predators and enemies. It was so _complex_.

* * *

Cautiously, I moved my hand towards the interwoven colors and patterns. The colors cringed away from my touch for a moment, as an animal might, before relaxing and moving slowly back to their original position. The living array embraced my hand and a gasp escaped my mouth at the sheer life contained in the carving.

It was amazing, and so warm. I could _feel_ as the seal did. It was as if the seal was connected to each life on the island. As different colors came into contact with my skin, there was a new rush of information and feeling, an influx of emotion that wasn't at all mine but also deeply connected to me at the same time. I knew in some innate corner of my mind how many people were on the island, and where they were. I could feel animals moving about their daily business. A squirrel foraging for food, a fox bringing home a dead rabbit to a den full of hungry kits, a bird calling to its mate, a fish swimming an ancestral route upstream. The plants rejoiced in the sun's warmth, throwing out buds at a million cells a minute in an unseen flurry of motion.

And then it disappeared.

I fell backwards, my breathing heavy as my eyes unfocused. I forced myself to blink, staring back at the sealing array. The colors I had seen so vividly and brightly were all but gone, but still present. They throbbed with a quiet and muted life, beating faster than a heart but all but silent at the same time.

Is this what Kaishi saw? Is this the understanding that he wanted others to see?

I placed my hand back on the array experimentally. The colors rose up under my fingertips once more, now greeting me as an old friend. I swallowed, hard, closing my eyes as I allowed the seal to show me what it needed to. My hand shifted away from the center of the seal and, even with my eyes closed, I could see the island from a bird's eye view. What drew my attention more than the whirlpools surrounding our proud island nation, however, was the unfamiliar ships headed straight our way. I increased my concentration on those ships until I could reach only one conclusion.

I broke away from the seal at once and, ignoring the feeling of loss that dully began to ache in my chest, I ran towards the door. With a burst of strength, I threw the doors open. The gathered masters, a hundred and nineteen total, awaiting me shifted, ready to congratulate me and welcome me into their ranks. Or, at least that is what I presumed. I didn't give them the opportunity.

"An attack is approaching from the northwest. They've nearly all passed through the border of whirlpools barricading the island."

"An attack?" one of my many semi-distant cousins, Uzumaki Yuriko, asked. She was one of the youngest masters, about twenty-four years old, and had only gotten her own mastery eight or nine months ago. Even so, she already had an apprentice, an aspiring sealer by the name of Aokawa Rei, my late aunt's only daughter. She was a sweet girl, only five years old, but it was already obvious that she had prodigious talent. After her parents' death, I adopted her, bringing her into the Uzumaki clan and allowing her to get the early training that she deserved. I had been her sole caretaker for nearly three years, since I was fourteen.

"An attack. Ships, seventeen that I saw, all loaded with shinobi. There must be nearly three hundred battle-ready shinobi, heading straight for our western ports. And we aren't facing just one adversary. I identified hitai-ates from Sunagakure, Iwagakure, and Amegakure."

Kizu came straight to me, laying his hands on my shoulder.

"Are you positive of what you saw?" he asked in a voice that promised danger.

"Completely."

Someone behind me cleared their throat and I froze, turning quickly and kneeling before the man. The masters around me kneeled as well, leaving only the old man in front of me standing.

"Leader-sama," I greeted quietly.

"Suki-san. You saw these invaders?"

"Hai."

"And you are sure that Suna has betrayed us?" We'd had a tentative peace with Suna since its foundation. Even so, it was entirely plausible to have them betray us. Uzushio was both famous and notorious for our masters of fuinjutsu.

"Can you think of another reason for seventeen unexpected ships approaching our shores, each loaded with shinobi outfitted for war?"

"Very well..." Uzumaki Taeru acknowledged wearily. He sighed softly before straightening, transforming from the weak old man he had resembled to the untrained eye and into our village's steadfast leader. "It is well that our masters have already been assembled. Those of you with apprentices, return to the village and alert your apprentices to the coming danger. Have all apprentices genin and low chuunin level escort all civilians to the safe houses in the Whirlpool Catacombs. All other chuunin level apprentices are to gather the village records, the clan archives, the jutsu libraries, and summonings and see that they are safely sealed and stored in the Uzumaki Vault until further notice and then join in the civilian guard. All jounin level apprentices and masters with apprentices are to secure the village as best as possible. The rest of you will be with me. We will meet the oncoming enemy as they arrive. This is our island; we know the land and the waters surrounding it better than any invading force. We will drive the forces away or we will strike them down without mercy."

"Uzumaki-sama, what will you have me do?" I asked in as strong a voice as I could muster. The man looked down at me before glancing away.

"Your duty is to the All Seal. Transfer the array into the Uzumaki Vault and guard the seal from within the vault along with an apprentice of your choice. It will be up to you and whoever you choose to ensure that the array, and everything else stored within the vault, remains undamaged. You are not to leave the vault unguarded, even if the invasion breaks through our walls."

"Leader-sama!" one of the masters, a man I recognized as Chusei Santo, exclaimed almost incredulously. "The All Seal is the heartbeat of this nation-"

"Suki-san, were you able to see the seal's energies after you separated yourself from it? When you were not touching the array?"

"I- Of course, I could," I responded quickly. Santo's eyes widened ever so slightly as Taeru chuckled with a timbre that was not entirely comforting. "Why wouldn't I be able to?"

"The All Seal is very selective in who may see its mechanizations. That is why not every apprentice can even begin to understand. Even fewer can continue to understand, to learn. Santo-san, do you now have any doubts that Suki-san will be unable to protect the All Seal?"

"No, sir."

Without further questions, the leader took one last look around his strongest sealers and gave a final nod, dismissing all present. My only goodbye to my shishou was an exchanged nod before he too vanished, following the others towards the western shore. Taeru-sama stayed behind, his eyes focusing on me intently. I resisted the urge to shift my weight under his ancient gaze.

"I will not stay long, not with the invasion mounting, but there is something you must know. Since the time of Uzumaki Kaishi, the village leader has always been a true master, someone who is able to see the All Seal's energies without touching the array. I have been waiting for many years for the next true master to come, just as every other leader before me has, and now you are here. If I fall today, it will be up to you to lead the remnants of Uzushio even if it is just you and the apprentice you choose. Do not doubt yourself if that is the case. You are strong, stronger than you know, or the All Seal would not have chosen you.

"But that was not what I needed to tell you. In the Uzumaki Vault, in the annex in which the All Seal is to be protected, there is a single scroll. In it, you will find everything that you will need to know, assuming that I can not tell it to you myself."

His pale brown eyes burning into mine, I watched as he lifted his hands and unfastened a chain around his neck. When he pulled the necklace away, I recognized it immediately. It was a very simple piece, comprised of a thin silver chain and a single charm, but it was the charm that made it so important. It was remarkably similar to the necklace famously worn by the Shodai Hokage. Instead of sky blue, the central crystal was a matrix of orange and red that swirled, flickering like flames in the sunlight. The two beads on either side of the crystal were made of jet and carefully carved to perfectly replicate the Uzumaki spiral that had been taken on as the village's symbol. The necklace was a gift to Taeru-sama by the Shodai Hokage himself when the villages had become allies. It was representative of his position as the village leader and, as he pressed it into my hand, representative of mine.

The air shifted around me and Taeru-sama was gone, following after his sealers.

I glanced back at the shrine that housed the All Seal. If the approaching forces knew what the All Seal could do... Their acquiring the seal would mean destruction of Uzushio. Without the All Seal, the island would cease to flourish.

* * *

It was much easier to speak of transporting the All Seal to the Uzumaki Vault. It was another matter to actually move it.

Even aside from the countless warding and protective seals around the All Seal's array, the slab on which it was carved was massive. It took all of my strength to even force the slab to shift in its place. The apprentice couldn't help me, as I had chosen selfishly. I had chosen the girl I'd adopted into my family as my sister, Aokawa Rei. As a child, she was too young to fully understanding what was happening to our land, let alone the subtleties involving the All Seal. To keep her busy, I sent her to collect the ceremonial scroll designed for the All Seal's transport and protection. The arrays built into that scroll were amongst the most complicated fuinjutsu in existence, only comparable to the All Seal itself. The scroll's design was based off of Uzumaki Kaishi's work, a level of fuinjutsu mastery that has only been matched by four others since his death.

It was easier to move the seal for me than it would be for others, seeing as I could physically see which seals were integrated directly into the main array and which seals were added later. I didn't dare cut the All Seal completely free from the added seals, as many of them were the remnants of natal blessings, a process that helped speed the changes the All Seal made in our people. It gave our people, civilians and shinobi alike, a stronger tolerance for pain and higher stamina. If I cut free all of those seals, I would cripple our forces just before the oncoming siege.

By the time I was ready to actually move the seal, Rei had brought the large scroll back from the crypts beneath the Shrine. She seemed shaken from the trip, but it was understandable. It was in that crypt where we kept the ashes of our dead and the hitai-ate plates of our fallen shinobi. Though the ashes were all sealed safely into black corpse scrolls, I knew that the experience could not have been comfortable for my little cousin.

"Roll out the scroll right here," I said quickly, gesturing towards the ground beside the sealing array. Rei obeyed swiftly but I noticed that her eyes never ventured far from the ground as she did so. I couldn't spare much time to comfort the girl, though. I was given strict orders by Taeru-sama, orders that I would follow to the letter.


	2. Chapter 2

The silence after the battle was only broken by my own ragged breathing as I ran through the lightless tunnels.

Not for the first time, I scanned the darkness of the Whirlpool Catacombs, knowing that I needed to get to the surface. I traced the seemingly nonsensical symbols carved along the walls, illuminated only by the pale green light given off by the lichen growing all throughout the catacombs, to discern my location. _The fastest way from here would be..._

In moments, I was running through the tunnels once more. I knew my way around these tunnels blindfolded, just like every other self-respecting shinobi of Uzushio. One never knew when they'd need to get through the catacombs, after all.

I was in the sunshine once more in minutes, just outside of the village's external wall. Seeing the state of the once proud wall, I inhaled sharply, forced to remember. The wall was now lying in rubble.

My jaw clenched almost painfully.

"Suki-nee?" Rei asked softly from my back. I relaxed my muscles, shushing her softly.

"I need you to do something for me, Rei-amai... Go back to the Vault and lock yourself in there until I come back for you."

"No!" she protested immediately. I lowered her to the ground, turning and kneeling to meet her eyes. She was biting her lip, her hands balled into tiny fists. I studied her for a long moment before sighing softly, closing my eyes tiredly.

"I'm sorry, amai." Before she could react, I formed a short sequence of hand seals and rested my hand on the small girl's neck. As soon as my skin made contact with hers, her eyes rolled back and she collapsed sideways. I caught her before she hit the ground, wrapping my arms around her small form briefly. I lifted her up onto one hip, awkwardly forming hand seals around her. With a practiced bite to my thumb, a plume of smoke rose up in front of me.

From the smoke, I heard a groan.

"Can't you ever summon me outside of this forsaken rainforest!" a deep voice grumbled. I tried to kill the wry smile that made its way to my lips, but it was stubborn.

"Koukyo-kun, you are a frog. You can't survive very long away from water," I reminded him tensely. The smoke cleared to reveal a large frog nearly as tall as I was. He was almost completely a golden honey color except for a black slash down his face running from beneath his right eye to his jawline.

"Doesn't mean I like rainforests, tadpole. Every time you summon me here, I have some upstart jaguar or something try their luck," he complained before glancing around. He sobered up immediately at the sight of the ruined wall. "Invasion?"

"Suna, Ame, Iwa."

"Need me to bash some heads?" he asked threateningly. I shook my head.

"Only if they get in your way. I want you to bring Rei back to the Uzumaki Vault. You remember the sealing arrays protecting it?"

"Of course I do... Can the kid survive my skin? Otherwise this will get a lot more complicated," Koukyo hummed. As a poison dart frog, Koukyo secreted an alkaloid poison known to down a grown man if he so much as brushed the frog. It was very convenient in battle, as the slightest touch could spell death, and in trap making, as the batrachotoxins would remain potent for up to a year after leaving the frog's skin, but it was a pain to desensitize myself to it. I lost track of how many days I spent living vicariously through shadow clones because I was voluntarily close to death due to my summons' poisons.

"Her body can fight it, but not as efficiently as mine can..." I murmured, fishing around the bag on my waist. Finding a blank piece of paper, I bit my thumb once more and got to work, writing out a complex seal. When I was finished, I pumped as much chakra as I dared into the seal, causing my blood to almost bubble like lava before it cooled and dried.

"Is that what I think it is?" Koukyo asked, impressed. I nodded.

"Time released chakra storage seal. I finished it two weeks ago," I informed him idly as I stuck the paper to Rei's chest, just above her heart. The sealing paper stuck to her skin like it was glue and, with a dull glow, began to work. "Okay. My chakra should increase the efficiency with which her body rejects the poison, but with how deadly your batrachotoxins are, I can only guarantee twenty minutes. If you're not back by the Vault by then, get to a defendable location and watch out for her until she wakes up. Get her to the Vault as soon as you can. She'll be safe there."

"You're going into the village?"

"I need to make sure that there is no one else."

"Careful out there, tadpole. If there are no more Uzushio nin, there are plenty more of everyone else."

"I know, Koukyo-kun... I'll meet up with you at the Vault as soon as I can," I promised. Not wasting anymore time, I slipped Rei onto his back, kissing her forehead lightly before darting over the ruined wall and towards the main village.

* * *

The fighting must have been intense if the ruins of Uzushio's proud stone buildings were any testament to the siege that had taken place over three tense days. Those had been three days in which I could do nothing but grit my teeth as I heard the fighting above our heads. I still had my orders to follow, though it was all I could do to keep myself from jumping into the fray.

Lying amongst the ruins now were bodies that I was forced to recognize. I still had blank scrolls in the bag I had taken from the Vault to make the proper transport scrolls, but I was forced to use my blood as ink to write the seals out. I left the enemy dead where they lay. The victor could recover their own deceased. I wouldn't make it easy for them.

I worked my way through the village, slowly travelling towards the Uzumaki district, knowing that I would need more blank scrolls to finish the final clearing of the village. There were weapons to be salvaged, paperwork to be filed away, and-

My thoughts and my heart stopped in tandem as my eyes froze on the scene before me.

The village center was strewn with bodies that shouldn't have been there. Masters who had gone to defend the borders were thrown unceremoniously in lines with apprentices and civilians that had been caught in the fighting. The lifeless body closest to me stared up unseeingly at the sky, clouded eyes shining from his scarred visage.

_K-Kizu-shishou._

Swallowing hard, I knelt at his side, trying to avoid staring at the deep slashes in his side and chest that must have caused his demise. Breathing deeply, I gently lowered his eyelids before removing his hitai-ate, leaning down, and lightly kissing his brow. I withdrew a kunai and, fully aware of the danger of staying still for too long, inscribed my shishou's name on the plate that had identified him as one of my comrades.

_Thank you, shishou... Thank you for trusting me with your knowledge and including me in your trust. I will never forget._

I forced myself to stand and to move along the line, cataloguing who hadn't made it out of the battle while keeping my senses on high alert. No Uzushio shinobi would have laid their own dead so carelessly on the ground. This was the work of invaders, meaning that there must have been enough enemies to survive that they felt secure within Uzushio's fallen walls.

With each shinobi I identified, I added another metal plate to my growing collection, carving into the hitai-ates of the shinobi I recognized. Traditions, even in death and in the destruction of the village, were in place for a reason. Though these plates would not be displayed beside the All-Seal in the Shrine like the previous dead of Uzushio, they would not be left nameless. The funeral blessing called for conditions that I could still provide, sealing the bodies and hitai-ate plates away until I could burn the bodies and find a proper home for the hitai-ate plates.

I continued with my morose work. By the time I had reached the end of the line of bodies, all but two of the masters had been accounted for. I had a sizeable collection of hitai-ate plates. I had run out of blanks scrolls before I had gotten through half of the line, so I had to seal the bodies into small squares of sealing paper until I could transfer the bodies into corpse scrolls. Until then, the bodies I stored within them would be safe from harm and decay.

Taeru-sama was amongst the dead and, after I finished carving his name into his hitai-ate plate, my hand drifted towards the crystal necklace hanging around my neck, where it had been safe during the battle.

There were almost two hundred dead, line up toe to toe in that square. The masters, over twenty of the oldest apprentices, and almost two dozen civilians. They were people who had been friends, or family of mine.

A soft thump sounded from some distance to my left and I tensed, one hand moving to the tanto slung across my back and the other moving to ensure that the All Seal's scroll was safe and secure. Another thump sounded and I recognized the sound immediately as footsteps. They grew closer as I pressed myself into the shadows of the rubble and I listened carefully.

The noise grew louder and shuffled, which I translated as not one approaching person, but at least two. They were unsteady, as if wounded or heavily burdened. I tensed, silently drawing a kunai as the figures approached.

From a dark alleyway came three figures. Seeing the three, I saw red and all I could hear was my own blood rushing in my ears as two foreign nin, both from Iwa, unceremoniously threw a woman, her wrists bound behind her, to the hard pavement. Without the smile on her face, I barely recognized the woman as Uzumaki Yuriko. All I could see was the lecherous grins on the men's faces. One of them drew a kunai and forced Yuriko to her knees, pulling the kunai to her neck and pressing it so hard to her skin that I could see a narrow line of blood begin to drip down her pale flesh. Yuriko, her eyes hard, did not make a sound.

Neither did I as I shot forward, all but gutting the man holding Yuriko before, using my momentum, whirling around and catching the other man in the lung with the bloodied kunai. He fell to the ground, giving a panicked gurgle as he drowned on his own blood.

"Suki!" Yuriko breathed, her voice surprised and relieved as I turned to face her.

"Yuriko-san," I murmured, kneeling down beside the woman. I drew a clean kunai and slipped it through her bindings, cutting her loose. "Thank Kami you're alive."

"What do you-" Her eyes wandered behind me, to see the large pile of black scrolls on the ground where I had been hiding in the shadows. "No..."

"The masters... The only one still unaccounted for is Karibi Shansa."

"Shansa took a trio of Iwa jounin over the northern cliffs," Yuriko informed me quietly. "The civilians, the apprentices-"

"If anyone's survived, they'd be in the Catacombs beneath the Uzumaki District. I was heading towards the district when I found the masters. Whoever was here had the bodies lined up toe to toe on the ground," I shivered.

"And Kizu-san...?" I shook my head to answer her question and Yuriko, after a long moment, nodded slowly in acknowledgement. "I'm sorry."

"He went down fighting, and I am still here to carry on his legacy. That's what he would have wanted." She glanced over her shoulder, one hand rubbing at her wrist, still red from the ropes.

"We need to move. Suna's contingent is going to move in at dawn according to those two," Yuriko said, gesturing to the dead men at our feet. I got to my feet as smoothly as I could and gathered up the black corpse scrolls.

"You're not in any condition to fight. Go with one of my clones and get to the civilians. We need to organize the survivors and get them to the Kaikou ports to begin evacuations."

"You don't know, do you?" Yuriko asked, her eyes pained. She glanced at the ground before looking back at me. "I guess you wouldn't. You've been in the Vault this whole time... I was sent to the boats, to oversee the civilian evacuation. The boats were burning when I got there. The civilians, the apprentices, the other masters... We were all sitting ducks."

"Then it means nothing..."

"What?"

I glanced down at the ground before holding the crystal necklace up for Yuriko to see. Her eyes widened ever so slightly.

"When?" she asked softly. I shook my head.

"Before he left to join the others at the shore. He said that the leader was always a true master, and that he had been waiting for one to appear and take his place. He said, in case he fell, that he wanted me to lead the survivors out."

"... The last true master to be chosen was Taeru-sama himself... You have only just begun to embrace your potential, Suki-san, as a kunoichi and a leader."

"The civilians, the other apprentices, the masters... What is left to be led?"

Unsure how to respond, Yuriko disappeared into one of the many entrances to the Whirlpool Catacombs. When she were out of sight, I moved the dead into the shadows where they wouldn't be seen. I doubted they would be missed for at least a few hours.

Clearing my thoughts, I made another dozen clones to help me sweep the village, not wanting to miss a body much more than I wanted to avoid seeing any of my friends dead. I would rather give my friends and comrades a proper send off than allow them to fall prey to enemy dissection. A shinobi's body was full of village secrets, and every Uzushio shinobi was peppered with seals of all sorts. For any of that to fall into enemy hands... It would be the straw to break the metaphorical camel's back.


	3. Chapter 3

I entered the Uzumaki district with a heavy heart. Each time my clones had found someone, they had made another clone and dispelled themselves to convey the knowledge to me. When the search was finally complete, I was burdened with another twenty-six corpse scrolls. They had all been apprentices, eight of them only twelve or thirteen years old.

In the previous war, and in the warring period before that, there had been an unspoken rule amongst the nations and clans. If a fighter appeared to be fifteen or younger, they weren't killed. That was the rule of thumb. To kill an incoming generation of warriors was to cripple an entire nation in a way from which it could not recover and blacklist your own nation. No one liked the death of a child, even if that child was a thief and a murderer. Children, even in their least pure form, were still the hope of a new generation, a new dawn, a new era for a village. To have them cut down... That was a storm no sane leader wanted to weather.

Whoever had led this attack had made a single point in killing these apprentices. They intended to eradicate Uzushio so completely that no one could tell of the cruelties they'd committed. If they had their way, Uzushio would hardly be a rumor when they left our island nation.

It was sickening to think, with the attack on the civilians that Yuriko had told me of, that plan was already well in motion.

I walked through the district that had been my home for all my life. I had learned so much within the stone walls guarding it, from how to talk to how to throw a kunai. It was here that I first met my shishou, who had watched me train for almost a week before allowing me to be apprenticed under him. It was here that I had risen through the ranks of apprentices. It was here that I received the first half of the tattoo that would mark me as a master of Uzushio. The first half marked that I had completed my education. The second would have marked my understanding of the All Seal, a component I would never receive as only my master could grant me my mark. The first mark was identical to all others; the second was unique to each master and apprentice. It would incorporate what had been taught in the years they'd spent together. It was show the qualities of that apprentice and become their own personal crest. It was a crest I would never receive now.

I moved through the district quickly, unwilling to meet up with any other foreign ninja. My clones had met with a few more but, luckily, they hadn't been expecting an attack and fell quickly and quietly.

Familiar with the district as I was, I wasted no time in going into the homes of my friends and family and sealing what I could. I couldn't carry most of the mundane things, but I ensured that no one would benefit from ransacking the district. I took everything of value, weapons, and technique scrolls, though most of it had been transported out during the first wave of evacuations and likely destroyed with the attack on the civilians.

With a final trip to my own home, in which I packed away everything I thought was useful, and a hurried trip into Taeru-sama's offices to retrieve Uzushio's summoning contracts, I was finished and more than a little disgusted with my work.

That feeling abated just a little when I entered the catacombs and was granted with the image of the remaining apprentices. Most of them were injured, and some very severely, but a few had escaped the assault with little more than chakra exhaustion. More than that, they were alive. Twenty-three apprentices, with ages ranging from twelve to nineteen and ranked from level five to nine. Attention abruptly came to me but no one seemed particularly relieved to see me.

"Suki-chan!" a familiar voice rang out from the milling crowd. I gave a relieved sigh as a familiar redhead melted out of the crowd.

"Genki-kun," I greeted my twin brother, hugging him but pulling away immediately when he inhaled sharply. "Are you hurt? What happened?"

"We were attacked, I thought you knew," he said dryly. I glared at him weakly. "What happened to you? Kaneda-shishou wouldn't say anything when he came back, only that there was an invasion headed our way."

"I understood the All Seal and it showed me the invasion force. I warned the other masters and we started to get the defenses readied."

"And where are they? The other masters?" My expression must have told him because the easy going smile that was always on his face, and already more than a little strained, disappeared completely. "Kaneda-shishou..."

"As far as I know, only Yuriko-san, Rei-chan, myself, and everyone here survived. Yuriko-san was sent to the civilians, but she was too late to save them... But that's not all..." I pulled the crystal necklace up once more so that Genki could see and his jaw dropped almost insultingly. I nodded tensely when he managed to drag his eyes back up to my face.

I looked around the apprentices once more, raising my voice.

"This isn't over yet! There are still remaining enemies who are waiting until dawn to sift through what's left of the village. They won't find anything useful, but that will buy us the time we need to get away. For now, we need to take care of everyone here or we'll all fall apart. I want everyone separated by injury severity! Chakra exhaustion and minor injuries, over there. Moderate to severe, but not life-threatening injuries, in that corner. Anything more severe, stay where you are. Anyone trained as a medic, get working. I have soldier pills and chakra seals if you need! Now move it!"

Silence reigned as no one moved. Genki growled lightly.

"Oi, you lot! She's got Taeru-sama's necklace, and you know what that means! Get moving or I'll kick your asses for insubordination against your commanding officer!"

The group shuffled around, complying slowly but surely and I mentally categorized the injuries as I made a note to thank Genki later. Not very many of them were dangerously hurt, but I didn't see a single apprentice with only chakra exhaustion. These apprentices fought, and fought hard.

* * *

In just a few hours, we were ready to move. I was surrounded by clones, most of them my own, helping people walk or carrying their wounded comrades. When we did start moving towards the south, it was a slow but steady effort. As long as the invaders didn't get access to the catacombs, we would be fine. If they did, it was more likely than not that they would get lost in the tunnels and, if we ever ran into them, too disoriented to fight properly.

Instead of leading the apprentices towards the evacuation rendezvous sites, I lead them straight to the Uzumaki Vault. For now, the Vault and everything within it was my priority.

"Follow me quickly," I ordered, standing before the narrow tunnel that led to the Uzumaki Vault. The guards were nowhere in sight, having joined the fighting topside and fallen against the enemy. Biting back a sigh, I strode forward through the narrow passageway until it opened into a large cavern. Directly across from the entrance were two massive stalagmites, standing guard over a thick metal door located just between them.

I approached the door without hesitation and checked the seals guarding the door for tampering. None of them had been touched. The apprentices milled about behind me, shuffling into the cavern.

My hands flew through hand seals as I gathered the chakra necessary to break the security seals. The black ink decorating the grey steel faded away as the seals lost their power and, with the final seal, I bit my thumb and ran it against the blood seal. The seal flickered red, absorbing the blood I'd run across its array, before melting into grey just like all of the other ward seals.

The room was almost exactly as I remembered it from my infrequent journeys here: small and crowded. Records of all sorts were stored in shelves and filing cabinets all over the room. Village documents- retired shinobi files, trade routes, treaties, and the like- were all gathered and stored along the east wall. The northern wall was dedicated to fuinjutsu scrolls and theory while the western was home to the ninjutsu library our shinobi had gathered over the decades, meticulously organized by element and ranking. The center of the vault floor was littered with glass cases, each covered with a light layer of dust, hiding its contents despite the gentle light given off by the glowing lichen. Even so, I knew that each case held weapons unique to our heros of old. These records went all the way back to Uzumaki Kaishi's reign. In fact, his kusarigama was in one of the cases, sealed safely in a scroll labeled with a vivid red marker.

The only difference from my previous visits was the small figure flying forward to greet me. Small arms wrapped around me as I was nearly knocked to the floor. I rocked back onto my heels, immediately pulling the small girl into my arms.

"It's okay, amai-chan... I'm here... I told you I would be back, wouldn't I?" I smiled softly as Rei tightened her grip around my neck. I glanced up to see Yuriko approaching us, flanked by Koukyo. "Thank you, Koukyo, for keeping her safe."

"Don't thank me. It was your friend here that found both of us," he said, nodding towards Yuriko. She smiled gently, bowing her head.

After assuring myself that nothing had been taken, I went to the northern wall and retrieved the largest blank scroll I could find, one that was only slightly smaller than the scroll used to store the All Seal. I unfurled it and, gathering ink from the wall, got to work at sealing everything away.

Once everything I could reasonably transport was sealed away, I moved to the hidden door that led to the most important artifact of all- the All Seal.

Opening the door, I found myself once again in a small and musty room that belied the importance of the two objects held within it. I walked forward quickly and softly, approaching the single glass case in the room's center. I carefully removed the seals guarding the case and lifted the glass, taking the large All Seal scroll and the small scroll that Taeru had told me of. I secured the All Seal's scroll onto my back, ensuring that it would not fall or slip, and tucked the small scroll into my obi. I couldn't read it, not yet, but it wasn't leaving my person. Those two scrolls, even separate, were worth more than my life. I couldn't lose them.

After gathering what I had sealed from the main Vault, I left the room behind, carefully resealing it so that no one would know I had been there. If Iwa, Suna, or Ame ever find this cavern, they could try for years to break into the empty room. They would fail, of course, but they could always try.


	4. Chapter 4

Before the invasion, there were just over five hundred people living in Uzushio, civilians and shinobi alike. Now, with our apprentices, masters, and the surviving civilians, there were twenty-six of us. The Suterusu had been annihilated. The masters, once numbering almost one hundred and twenty, were down to two sole survivors.

It was a harsh reality to see the small and broken crowd gathered together in the grottoes that would have been the shelters for the civilians and know that that was all that remained of my village.

I climbed my way to the top of a small outcropping, so that I could see everyone.

"Listen up!" I called. The noise level dropped down only marginally and I scowled, raising my voice even more. "Shut up, all of you!"

 _That_ worked. I swallowed as everyone's eyes turned to me before gathering my thoughts.

"Good. Now stay quiet until I'm finished, if you can manage... This morning, as some of you may know, I went to get my mastery. I sat before the All Seal, which now is safely sealed in the scroll you now see, and looked at it until I understood. The All Seal showed me the coming invasion, and allowed our masters, our friends, and our families to prepare themselves for the worst...

"Taeru-sama ordered me to do one thing before he and the others left to defend our shores, an effort that proved to be a Sisyphean task. He told me to protect the All Seal, and then..." My voice failed for just a moment before I pushed onwards. "He passed his will onto me! Everything he worked for and everything that was never finished, is now in my hands and I refuse to let him down! He told me to keep the remnants of this village together, to lead it, and I will do so even if it kills me.

"We have just suffered a tragedy. I won't hide from it, I won't downgrade it. The force that did this, they have achieved their victory. They accomplished their goal in destroying our village. But a village is more than the buildings inside of the wall. We have survived to continue the legacies and carry out the dreams of the men and women who died today. It will take us time to recover from this assault. We will not bounce back in a few days, or a few months. This wound will take years to begin to mend, and even then it will leave a scar. But our scars remind us that the past did happen, and they ensure that we do not repeat the mistakes we've made!

"But to live until these wounds heal, we need to abandon the home we've had since the days before the warring period. We are forced to retreat so that we can treat our injured, to mourn our dead, and live another day. We will find a new home where we can rest until we've regained the strength to remind Iwagakure, Sunagakure, and Amegakure why even the force of three villages _combined_ was not enough to put us down! We are the village that needed the threat of three villages to even consider leaving our home! We are the village feared and honored for our mastery in fuinjutsu! We are the village that Konohagakure turned to when all seemed lost in the Great Shinobi War and we are the village that won that war for our allies! We are Uzushiogakure! And we have not fallen!"

Silence fell. Glances were exchanged, whispered murmurs passing from person to person, until Yuriko separated herself from the crowd and bowed deeply to me.

"Your orders, Uzumaki-sama?"

I surveyed the small crowd once more before turning to Yuriko.

"We will leave the island in two days. Gather everything of value, supplies, and weapons, and ensure that it is stored. Everything we cannot bring is to be destroyed beyond use. I do not want those vultures gaining any more from us."

"But where are we going, neechan?" Rei asked with a small frown. I looked over at her with a tight smile.

"To the one village we've always been able to rely on." My hand crept up to Taeru-sama's old necklace. "To Konoha."

"How do you intend for us to get off of this island?" Genki asked, stepping close to me after I stepped down from my pedestal. He kept his voice low, but his eyes glanced around warily. "There are no boats at the ready. We have injured, some fairly severely. Not to mention that most of us left are chuunin in rank. We'd be sitting ducks for any well placed ambush."

"We're shinobi and Yuriko and I are the best sealers we've got. We will be able to make enough chakra storage seals to last as long as it requires, not to mention the seals I found all over the District."

"Enough chakra for what?" Genki asked impatiently. I stared at him levelly.

"I've walked to Hi no Kuni before, Genki."

"You want us to _walk_?! Across the freaking ocean?" Genki hissed under his breath. "Did you forget that Hikari has a broken leg? And that the Karibi girl's chakra control is still screwed up from whatever she was poisoned with? And Rei is barely old enough to throw a kunai correctly! How do you expect her to walk on water for so long?"

"Don't be so dramatic, Genki. At the most, it is an eighty mile span of water. We should be able to cross it in less than two days."

"Not everyone with us is an Uzumaki, Suki. They don't have the-" Genki abruptly fell silent. "That's what the chakra storage seals are for."

"Yes. With a couple of days of rest, everyone who suffered from chakra exhaustion should be back to normal, or close to it thanks to the proximity to the All Seal. Everyone that's too injured to walk themselves by that time will be escorted by a clone powered by one of my time release chakra storage seals. And Rei will be with either myself or Yuriko the entire time."

"... We're really going to walk across the ocean?"

"It's the best we've got, unless you want to steal an unfamiliar vessel and hope no one catches on until we're in safe territory."

* * *

After two days of rest, we were ready to leave. Despite Genki's warnings, I lead a three man team into the village to raid the stores for anything we could use, just to spite the villages that had ruined our home. Everything from books to food to everyday weapons to clothes was sealed securely into scrolls taken from the scroll depositories located around the Uzumaki District.

With the newly acquired supplies, I decided to change my outfit once more. Gone was the red orange battle kimono I wore as an apprentice. Now I wore a dark red sleeveless top and a black and red skirt that left my right leg almost entirely exposed. Instead of the standard shinobi sandals, I wore a knee length pair of black boots and added a pair of fingerless gloves. With my hitai-ate tied around my right thigh just above my shuriken and kunai holsters and my sealing pouch on my left hip, my outfit was complete. (A/N: Basically, picture Yuna's gun mage outfit from Final Fantasy X-2, change the colors, make the gloves fingerless, and put the hitai-ate plate on the black and white portion of the skirt on the left.)

"Does everyone understand the plan?" I asked in a low voice, facing the exit to the catacombs that we would use. Once out of the catacombs, we had a short dash to the shore and then the eight mile trip to mainland Hi no Kuni and then another seventy-something miles to Konoha. It would be hard but, with any luck, we'd be able to cross paths with a Konoha squad on our way in. We would make it.

"Hai," voices echoed behind me. Even without glancing back, I knew that each of the apprentices behind me were tensed and ready for anything.

"Koukyo," I said, getting the frog's attention. The golden frog was now as small as my hand and rested on my right shoulder. "Are the others in place?"

"The gauntlet's been set. If anyone gets without a quarter mile of you, they won't live much longer."

"Harimau?" Yuriko asked, looking to her left at her own summon. The large tiger, nearly five feet tall at the shoulder, rolled his shoulders.

"My kin are ready as well. As soon as the apprentices are cleared of the catacombs, they will converge around us," he reported, his baritone voice almost a purr as his paws kneaded the stone floor.

"This is either a really good plan, or suicide," Genki murmured, stepping close to my side. He'd been my unofficial second-in-command, having earned more loyalty from the other apprentices than Yuriko or I.

"You're not sure yet?" I asked wryly. He smirked but it didn't reach his eyes.

"Eh, I'll tell you once we're in Konoha," he decided. Glancing around, he added, "Looks like we're ready to go."

"Hai..." I turned around to face the apprentices and Yuriko, clearing my throat. Silence fell slowly and I took a deep breath. "I'll get right to it. If Uzushio is to have any hope of recovery, of a future, we need to stay strong and we need to stay together. Once we leave the Catacombs, I am relying on everyone here to keep their senses sharp. We have a path cleared, but I don't want any stupid, careless mistakes. We watch each others' backs, we move as one unit, and we leave no one behind. The people around you are your comrades, your sisters, your brothers. Any bad blood between you that you've had with anyone else here is gone. It does not exist. Today will be one of the longest days of our lives; we need to be able to trust each other to get through it. Am I understood?"

"Hai, Suki-sama," a few of the apprentices said halfheartedly. I clenched my fists, turning to face the dark tunnel once more.

"Ikimashou!"

And we were off running.

* * *

It was a mad dash across the ocean, but we hadn't lost anyone and I even had a few chakra storage seals left over. Once we hit landfall, and were in Hi no Kuni territory, the risk of attack decreased dramatically and our small contingent began to move just a little slower, keeping an eye out for any Konoha patrols or teams. It wasn't until the fourth day, though, that we were lucky enough to cross paths with a Konoha team.

I had been finishing the latest watch and was preparing to wake the others when I heard it, the telltale whistling of a kunai in flight. Whipping out a kunai of my own, I threw the blade with practiced care to intercept the incoming knife, pulling out my tanto.

"Whoever you are, you _really_ don't want to get on my bad side right now," I growled, forcing my voice to stay strong. I was tired, but hopefully my opponent wouldn't be able to see that in the pre-dawn darkness.

"What is a contingent of shinobi doing so far into Konoha territory?" a distorted voice asked, echoing throughout the trees. My comrades, exhausted from their journey, slept on.

"I don't generally discuss my plans with a faceless enemy."

At that, there was a low laugh and a trio of- if I had to guess- young jounin, all about my age, appeared on a tree limb close by. They were all very different looking, I noted, though they all wore the same uniform, a dark flak jacket with dark blue pants and sandals. There were two boys, one with long shaggy white hair who sported red lines that extended from below his eyes while the second was very pale with long black hair with snakelike yellow eyes that were oddly accented by a purple slash across his eyelids. The girl stared at me with wary brown eyes, her long blonde hair in a high ponytail. Spotting their hitai-ates, I lowered my blade.

"We are refugees, going to Konoha seeking shelter."

"And why would Konoha extend such a welcome?" the one in the middle, a tall and pale boy with yellow eyes that stared straight into mine. I reached to the necklace I still wore, undoing it quickly and holding it up for the trio to see. The girl's eyes widened.

"Oro, that's-"

"Hn," the boy dismissed. The girl glared lightly in the direction of her teammate but one of her hands went to her neck. Even from the distance we were faced with, I recognized the necklace as Senju Hashirama's.

"Senju?" I asked, surprised.

"Why do you have that necklace? That was given to Uzushio's leader by my grandfather, the Shodai Hokage," the girl asked sharply. I stared at her levelly.

"I am Uzushio's leader. This group you see before you is what remains of Uzushio, Senju-hime. We were attacked four days ago and the village fell."

"You're their leader?" the young man on the right, with the white hair, blurted out, as if he had been wanting to speak for quite some time.

"Yes, I am," I answered succinctly. The man in the middle stared at me thoughtfully for a long moment before speaking again.

"We'll escort them to Konoha. Sensei can handle it from there."

"Oi, teme, just because-" The white haired man's tirade was cut off quickly by a sharp look from his teammate.

"Sensei made me captain of this mission, Jiraiya. You will follow my orders or be brought before the Council for insubordination," he said coolly before jumping down before me. Not sensing a threat, I sheathed my tanto. "When will your subordinates be ready to leave?"

"A few hours. We barely stopped since leaving Uzushio, so I was going to let them sleep. I doubted we'd be attacked this far into Konoha territory."

"Then you don't know?" the man asked sharply as his teammates joined him on the ground. His expression became even more serious. "War has been declared. I doubt you will find any place quite as safe as it once was."

"War? Against whom?" I asked, shocked. The girl responded, her eyes sad.

"It's Konoha against Iwa and Suna. Ame is already being invaded and supplies have been moving for weeks."

"A preemptive strike," I realized aloud. The three looked at me oddly. "The attack on Uzushio was lead by Iwa with Ame and Suna support. If there's a war... They must not have wanted Konoha to be able to call on Uzushio's help as they did in the last Great Shinobi War."

"Sensei won't be happy to hear that," the man with white hair groaned. "It's already been enough of a pain to-"

"Not here," his captain interrupted sharply. "We're in open territory and too far from Konoha. If there's a chance that they've been followed here, there's a chance that the enemy is listening."

"There's no way we were followed," I said, shaking my head. "I've had frogs surrounding us since before we first left the island."

"Frogs?" the white haired man perked up. I nodded.

"My summons, poison dart frogs." He grinned happily.

"That's awesome! I'm more of a toad person, though," he grinned. I sighed tiredly, which the girl of the team noticed.

"Get some rest. You look like you haven't slept in days. Oro, Jiraiya, and I will keep watch."

"I appreciate it," I said honestly. The girl smiled kindly.

"Sensei wouldn't be very happy if we let anything happen to you all. I'm Tsunade by the way. This is Orochimaru, and the obnoxious one is Jiraiya."

"Uzumaki Suki."

"Nice to meet you, Suki."

"Yes, _very_ nice," Jiraiya laughed quietly.

I would have responded- likely by hitting the man- but I was already well on my way to sleep.

 


	5. Chapter 5

I never would have been able to guess how much that chance meeting that day in Hi no Kuni would change my life. I did, however, get just an inkling after my party arrived in Konoha. While I would be staying with Tsunade, Orochimaru, and Jiraiya while they gave their mission report, the others would be staying in the rather lavish Uzumaki compound, a tower in the middle of a quiet forested training ground a small distance away from the rest of the village. Orochimaru and the others personally escorted us to the tower, talking about the rumors that circulated around the tower. Based on what I pieced together, various Uzumakis had worked together to make a sealing array based off of the All Seal that defended the entire area even more than the tall fences around it. The seal would also prevent certain people from going into specific areas or floors of the tower, protecting the clan's privacy from all but its most trusted friends.

The tower was something to see. Sections of it were built in familiar stone, but large portions of it was a colorful array of wood, painted red or green, and metal. There were balconies and windows of all different sizes covering the outer wall, some tinted darker than others or shuttered for more privacy. It was a patchwork home, something perfect for the mix of families brought from Uzushio.

Leaving Yuriko to help the apprentices with the tower's basic functions and start to get settled, I left with Orochimaru, Tsunade, and Jiraiya to meet with the Hokage. The trip to the Hokage Tower was faster than I anticipated, leaving no room for awkward small talk, something that I appreciated.

"Orochimaru, Tsunade, and Jiraiya here to report a B-ranked mission," Orochimaru announced to the secretary. She blushed lightly, causing me to scowl, before waving us in.

"I absolutely despise fan girls," I grumbled under my breath. Jiraiya nodded sagely and I scowled at him. "You only agree with me because you don't have any fan girls."

"Hey! You don't know me," Jiraiya pouted. I raised an eyebrow.

"If you had fan girls, you definitely would not have been trying to flirt with me the entire way here because you would have been sick of the attention. Judging by what you've shown me so far, you're simply in denial, still thinking that you're a ladies' man."

Tsunade did her best to turn her laugh into a cough, but she wasn't exactly successful. Jiraiya's shoulders slumped and he stared at the ground sadly, murmuring to himself.

Orochimaru shook his head, closing his eyes as if he had a headache, and knocked on the office door. A voice called for us to enter and the door opened.

The inside of the Hokage's office was bright and just a little crowded. Stacks of paperwork were placed here and there, occasionally ruffling dangerously in the slight breeze from the open window. At the old looking desk sat a man probably in his early or mid thirties. He had short, dark brown, and spiky hair with a small goatee. From beneath his eyes extended short black markings. He wasn't very spectacular looking, but I knew who this was without a doubt.

"Sarutobi-sensei," Orochimaru bowed his head. I tried very hard to hide my surprise that, for all this time, I was in the presence of the Hokage's students. "Our mission was successfully completed, though we did run into bandits led by missing nin Abe Hakuta. He and the bandits were neutralized without any injury to ourselves, the merchant, or the goods, and we arrived at our destination on time. Details will be in the written mission report."

"Good," Sarutobi Hiruzen stated, sounding a little distracted. He looked behind Orochimaru, spotting me. "And who might you be?"

I resisted the urge to swallow, refusing to show weakness. I was a village leader. It might be a broken village, but it still existed.

"Uzumaki Suki, Hokage-sama." I held my necklace to the light. "Current leader of the remains of Uzushiogakure."

"The remains?" At once, any good humor in Hiruzen's eyes vanished. I nodded seriously. Tsunade decided to speak.

"We met Suki and the rest of the remaining shinobi on our way back. We thought it was best if you spoke to her, sensei."

"I was told that Konoha is facing a war. Is that right?" I asked. Hiruzen nodded tiredly.

"Yes. Suna has accused Konoha of abducting their Sandaime Kazekage and Iwa decided to divide our attention by opening a second front, assuming they can break through Ame."

"I was afraid of that. They won't face much opposition from Ame's leaders. Are you familiar with the mastery gaining rituals of Uzushiogakure, Hokage-sama?"

"Tsunade's grandmother, Uzumaki Mito, had spoken to me about your traditions. You study a sealing array until you understand its basic mechanics."

"In a way, yes. Prior to the attack on Uzushio, I went to obtain my mastery. As tradition dictated, I went before the All Seal and studied it until, as you said, I understood its mechanics. The All Seal is more than just a single array, though. It is dozens and dozens of individual and delicate seals interlocked in such a way that not one can be destroyed without causing the failure of the whole. Through a number of protection wards, I was made aware of an invasion force. This force, made of approximately three hundred and twenty enemy shinobi, invaded our island, laid siege to Uzushio, and took control. Over the course of three days, our total population was reduced from just over five hundred men, women, and children to just twenty-six known individuals, including myself."

Tsunade gave a small gasp beside me, one hand covering her mouth in horror. Orochimaru closed his eyes again and Jiraiya stared at me with something akin to pity. The Hokage bore a grim expression.

"The assault was led largely by Iwa, but strongly supported by Ame and Suna. From what I understand, your enemies did not want to chance Konoha asking for support from Uzushio as you did in the last war. Instead of risking us coming in later, at full force, they intended to destroy Uzushio completely in a preemptive strike. Ame might not fight directly in this war, but they will not hinder Iwa's forces as they march on to Hi no Kuni."

"An entire village, destroyed," Hiruzen said softly. He stared at me with a sadness in his eyes. "Were you able to complete your funeral rites?"

"No. All of the bodies we recovered are still sealed, as well as their hitai-ates. The All Seal is sealed as well, currently in the capable hands of the only other master left to Uzushio, Uzumaki Yuriko. I was hoping to be able to lay them to rest here in Konoha."

"That is something I can grant. I trust that my team has shown your comrades to the Uzumaki compound?"

"They have, Hokage-sama."

"Good. I will have an advisement sent out among the shinobi that the tower is being occupied once more so that you are not disturbed by any teams looking for a secluded place to train."

"You won't have to worry about that. I'll be sure to adjust the perimeter wards to discourage unwanted intruders."

"You can do that?" Jiraiya asked curiously. I nodded at him, knowing that the young man was interested in fuinjutsu. He had learned some from the elder toads, but he was nowhere near my level of experience.

"And much more."

Silence fell in the office for a short time as the Hokage studied me closely. After a minute, he looked to his team.

"Tsunade, are there injuries amongst Uzumaki-sama's subordinates?"

"There were a few broken bones, but they've already been healed or are mostly there. I haven't seen such a high rate of regrowth in a human until meeting Uzumaki Hikari. She had a broken leg, but it healed with minimal care after it was set."

"Uzumakis are renowned for their endurance and fast healing. It was thought to be a kekkai genkai by neighboring lands," Sarutobi told her. I smiled dryly.

"It has very little to do with blood. It is true that Uzumakis generally are born with larger chakra reserves and relatively dense muscles, but most of that comes from the All Seal. As we have been traveling with the All Seal for a week now, the proximity helped speed chakra restoration and healing."

"This All Seal sounds intriguing," Orochimaru noted.

"It is Uzushio's most precious treasure, more so than any weapon or jutsu we've developed, as well as the oldest known piece of fuinjutsu in existence. It has been protected by the Uzumaki and their satellite clans since before the warring period, long before any of the great villages were founded. It is a piece of fuinjutsu that I shall destroy before it is taken from my people." I realized how cool my voice became and I cleared my throat. Moving the subject into less dangerous matters, the Hokage spoke.

"Uzumaki-sama, I will call you back to ask more about the attack and how you all escaped, but for now return to your comrades. Tsunade, I want you to escort a team of medic nin to examine the survivors and record the names of the survivors. I know of more than one family here in Konoha that had relatives in Uzushio and I want them to be able to know who made it to safely and who did not."

"I appreciate the sentiment, Hokage-sama, but we have been an independent people for far too long and there is much information that can be gained from a thorough physical exam. I can provide you with a list of names easily, but I can't allow an entire team of medic nin to become so familiar with our practices."

"Will you allow Tsunade to complete the exams?" His voice was slightly strained, as if he hadn't expected me to reject his course of action. After thinking on it, I nodded.

"That will be fine... I want you to understand, Hokage-sama, that I do not mistrust you. We have simply lost too much already. The tattoos across the bodies of each apprentice, as well as my own and Yuriko-san's, are all seals or representative of something more significant than any Konoha medical nin can recognize. Some of them are extremely personal. To have them documented by a stranger would be more humiliating than you might think."

"I see."

"Then why can Tsunade see them?" Jiraiya asked boisterously. I glanced over at him before looking at Tsunade.

"As a descendant of Uzumaki Mito, Tsunade carries Uzumaki blood through her veins. With so little Uzumaki blood left in the world, it is important for us to recognize each stem of our family tree. I would trust Tsunade, even as an unrecognized clanmate, to use her judgment when she records these exams."

"We're related?" Tsunade asked, surprised. I nodded, smiling softly.

"Your grandmother was a prominent member of the Uzumaki clan before she was transferred to Konoha at the time of her engagement to Senju Hashirama. Logics dictates that we are related. But yes, we are distant cousins."

"Really?" Tsunade asked, a curious gleam in her eyes. I nodded, about to respond when the Hokage beat me to the chase.

"Uzumaki-sama, you may return to your people. Tsunade, do not forget to complete the physical exams. I expect them done and on my desk by the end of next week. Orochimaru, make sure that the written mission report is finished and handed in the mission desk as protocol. And Jiraiya..." The Hokage seemed at a loss for words, especially when Jiraiya perked up, ready for orders. "Try to stay out of trouble."

"Uzumaki-sama, you may return to your people. Tsunade, do not forget to complete the physical exams. I expect them done and on my desk by the end of next week. Orochimaru, make sure that the written mission report is finished and handed in the mission desk as protocol. And Jiraiya..." The Hokage seemed at a loss for words, especially when Jiraiya perked up, ready for orders. "Try to stay out of trouble."

"Arigatou, Hokage-sama, for your patience and understanding. Tsunade, feel free to come to the tower anytime you like."

"I should be free sometime in the next few days," Tsunade said with a thoughtful look on her face. "I have to look into my hospital schedule first."

"Of course," I nodded. Looking once more to the Hokage, I bowed my head respectfully before turning and leaving the room. As soon as the door closed behind me, I dashed out of the nearest window and ran over the rooftops towards the Uzumaki compound.


	6. Chapter 6

Once more in a reasonably safe environment, I and the others quickly got to work. Once the tower rooms were selected- I was given a spacious loft on the second highest floor, just beneath a massive green room- I set the task of finding a home for the All Seal. I eventually placed it in the lower of the two basement levels, having one of the jounin apprentices disguise the door with layers of genjutsu and seals of Yuriko's making.

The All Seal hadn't shown any change from its transport but I needed to alter it to adapt to the new environment. No longer could it take all of the land it was connected to, as it was now overextending itself by trying to extend past Konoha's walls. Eventually, I limited its influence to the forest's limits, ending at the tall fencing surrounding the training ground. I was unsure what effects such a concentration of natural chakra would do the environment but it was better to risk that than weaken the seal by forcing it to shelter so large an area.

I examined what was left of the natal blessings. I did away with all of those which had faded- the old seals from those who died in the attack- and incorporated the ones that still were connected to a living soul further into the All Seal itself, removing the need for the separate sealing matrix.

I never failed to be fascinated by the All Seal. It would help me as I shifted about its matrices, as if it already knew what I wanted to accomplish. It stopped me if I tried to push it too far, saving itself from damage. It was, truly, a living thing.

Once the All Seal had been settled in the basement area, it was not difficult to decide to place the hitai-ates of the fallen there as well. Sifting through village records, I found the names of the shinobi that I could not recognize and their headbands were carved appropriately. Once the hitai-ates had all been labeled, we were ready for the funeral rites.

The funeral pyres blazed from before dawn to after dusk for days. There were just so many dead, we seemed to never finished. But, eventually, the last body- Taeru-sama- was cremated and the ashes of our fallen leader and his first fuinjutsu, safely secured from within his hitai-ate in the tradition of our village, were safely sealed into a black marked scroll. The scrolls of the dead were placed in a room adjacent to the new home of the All Seal and would be until a proper crypt could be constructed within the Konoha Cemetery.

The day after Taeru was finally laid to rest, Tsunade came to examine us all for any lingering wounds or damage. I met her at the gates to the forest, knowing that the ward seals would discourage her from enterring. True to my predictions, she was shifting her weight uncertainly when I approached from within.

"Suki!" she exclaimed, as if relieved to see me. I smiled wryly.

"Don't worry about the bad feeling," I hinted. "I'll adjust the matrix to recognize your chakra signature so it won't affect you in the future."

"Can you?" She definitely sounded relieved and I nodded.

"And much more," I said, echoing my words to Jiraiya from nearly a week ago. "But, for now, we should get to the tower. The woods are getting more dangerous by the day now that Yuriko's tigers and my own summons have set up shop."

"Are you telling me that there are giant man eating tigers and poisonous frogs as large as the Hokage Tower roaming around here?" At Tsunade's increasing pallor, I couldn't help but laugh. It felt good to laugh.

"Exactly that."

"Let's go," she squeaked. I raised an eyebrow at the Senju but gestured forward.

"After you, Senju-hime."

"If you insist, Uzumaki-sama."

* * *

Tsunade's check ups were skillfully done, in my opinion. Aside from the occasional question about one of the seals tattooed onto so and so's arm, leg, etc, she was rather professional throughout the ordeal. She kept careful notes on the condition of the apprentices, noting the family histories as accurately as she could. She wrote down which poisons and anesthetics we were immune to and any kekkai genkai we possessed to the mundane tidbits about blood type and such.

"Chakra restorative. Helps rebuild chakra reserves between fights," I answered automatically as Tsunade glanced at me, her index finger pointing at a seal on my brother's upper arm.

"Yep. Increased stamina all around," Genki winked. I closed my eyes in exasperation.

"Which means he never gets tired of embarrassing himself," I cut in as Tsunade sputtered. "I swear, Genki, I'm never letting you near that Jiraiya guy again."

"Aw, come on, sis. I need some guy time and who would I hang out in our group? Ketsai? Sakko?"

"Did I mention that I can apply a silencing seal with just skin contact now, otouto-chan?" I asked sweetly, wiggling my fingers towards my brother. He blanched and I grinned. "Keep it that way."

"Alright, Uzumaki Genki. You're finished. Can you send in the next patient?"

"Sure thing, sweetheart."

"I swear," I began as the door closed behind Genki. "He wasn't like this after the siege. Sure, he threatened to beat up anyone who didn't listen to me for insubordination, but he's never been this bad at... _talking_ to girls."

"It's Jiraiya. He's a corrupting influence," Tsunade sighed knowingly. "I'm lucky that Orochimaru's better than that, otherwise I'd be drowning in cheesy pick up lines."

"So... What's going on with you and snake-boy?" I asked curiously. Tsunade blushed a curious shade of red, stammering out a "N-nothing!" that immediately made me more curious. "So... You _want_ something to be happening then."

"No! I mean- No!" the blonde said quickly. I was about to reply when little Kushina came in, looking awfully small. Clearing her throat, Tsunade turned to the little girl. "Hey, sweetie. I'm just gonna give you a check up, okay?"

"Nee-chan?" Kushina asked, looking to me. I nodded reassuringly.

"It's alright, amai. Tsunade's a very good medic-nin. And, do remember your lessons about Mito-sama? That's Tsunade's grandma."

"So... We're cousins?" Kushina concluded after a moment. Tsunade nodded with a bright smile.

"And cousins don't like it when their family's hurt, so I'm going to make sure that you're okay."

"Alright," Kushina answered, a little more confident in her decision and Tsunade carefully lifted her onto the examination table. Tsunade carried out the check up without hesitation until she came across the tattoo on Kushina's left shoulder blade. She swallowed.

"Kushina, sweetie, how old are you?"

"Five and a half!" the girl answered brightly. At the girl's response, Tsunade was less than thrilled. I jumped in before the blonde could ask the question.

"Uzushio survived as long as it did because of our adherence to tradition. Kushina bears that tattoo because of one of our customs... When one is adopted into a major clan such as the Uzumaki, it has to been made sure that they are not doing it for the prestige or influence a place in our clan will grant them. It's customary for the one who wishes to join the clan to be tested in a number of difficult and often painful ways. Kushina got that tattoo because I adopted her into my family, bringing her into the Uzumaki family, but, because of her youth, the pain of a blood seal sufficed to bond her to the family."

"A blood seal?" Tsunade's voice was low, almost horror struck. Kushina was the one to respond, one small hand going to the seal.

"Hai... Suki-nee gave me her blood, so that I was her sister! It hurt, but... But I still had a family, so it was okay!" The girl's smile remained strong as ever. I looked to Tsunade seriously.

"The more accurate name for this seal would be the adoption seal. Kushina was orphaned when she was about two years old. Since I'm her closest relative, I've been taking care of her ever since with the clan's help and blessing. The adoption seal was officially placed when she turned four years old. It'll fade from view when she turns sixteen- the traditional age of majority- but we'll always remain bonded in blood."

"An adoption seal?" Tsunade echoed, still uncertain.

"Uzushio traditions," I said in explanation. "I can explain some of them to you if you'd like, but I can't go into the exact details with you being unrecognized. And, for you to be recognized, it'd take a lot more pain and effort than an adoption seal."

"I think I'll pass," Tsunade laughed a little nervously. I noticed her eyes dart to Kushina's shoulder as the girl covered the seal once more but she remained silent. "Alright, kiddo, you check out."

"Amai, go find Yuriko-san and tell her that I think you deserve an ice cream," I said with a smile. Kushina's eyes lit up and I was glad that the haunted look was nearly gone. She still had nightmares, but most of us still did. She was young, though; it would fade from her memory until it was just an unpleasant recollection. "And don't run in the uncleared zones! We're still not sure how many traps are still unactivated!"

"Traps?" Tsunade asked as Kushina dashed out of the door, having kissed me on the cheek and briefly wrapping her arms around the blonde, shouting goodbyes all the while.

"The last residents were rather paranoid," I replied grimly. "I've found and deactivated over a dozen traps just in my loft and I'm sure there are more. I'm probably going to open my fridge just to get stabbed with something sharp and poisoned."

"But that's crazy!"

"The last one to stay in my little apartment was a member of the Suterusu Gundan, which was like your ANBU on crack and steroids. They accepted only the best of the best and, even then, most of them began to crack after three years of service. They stayed on, though, since they were so skilled and still needed, but they were all either paranoid, half-sane, or refused to speak out loud. One was notorious for only communicating in Morse Code. So, yes, they're a bit crazy."

The door opened once more and I looked up to see Karibi Kiana. Kiana was one of our few survivors with medical experience but hadn't been able to make herself very useful right after the attack on account of her being poisoned with something that disrupted her chakra control. With that in her bloodstream, she hadn't been able to make a Bunshin to fool a child, let alone heal broken bones.

Another detail rang clear in my mind. Kiana's sister, Shansa, was a hero. She'd died in the fight, but she'd taken three jounin with her over the cliffs.

"Hello," Tsunade greeted politely before glancing down at the list of names I'd prepared for her. Only one name remained on the list. "You must be... Kiana?"

"Yes." The girl's answer was subdued and I noticed very quickly that she was avoiding looking at me. She wasn't even avoiding eye contact; she was either staring intently at Tsunade or the floor, not sparing me a glance. Tsunade either didn't notice or put on a very good mask.

"So, Kiana, I'm Senju Tsunade. I'll be doing your check up today. Nothing too big, just routine work to make sure that there's no lasting damage from the past few weeks. If you could take a seat for me, we can get started."

I watched Kiana very carefully, hoping she'd take at least a glance in my direction but I was left disappointed. At least, I was until Tsunade brought up family history.

"I had a sister, Shansa." Her voice was surprisingly cold and her eyes flew to mine for just a moment. She held my gaze with a venomous look before returning her eyes to the floor. "She died in the attack."

"I'm sorry," Tsunade said. I was still surprised that, after an entire day of saying that to each apprentice when it came to describing family history, she still sounded sincere as if she'd known the fallen personally.

"We all are." Her eyes stayed locked on the floor but her hands tightened on the examination desk. As if sensing the tension between Kiana and I, Tsunade plowed ahead.

"From your symptoms starting when my team met you, I'd say that you were afflicted with paralytic heboa, derived from the _caticia chryslie_ plant native to Ame. If I'm right, there should be no long term effects and you should regain full use of your chakra within the week if you haven't already but, just to be safe, I'd like to take a blood sample to run a few tests just to make sure that it's nothing more severe."

"I don't need it," Kiana said tightly. Tsunade looked at her with concern.

"If it's not paralytic heboa, the next likeliest toxin would be a derivative of _manihot esculenta_ , which can stay in your bloodstream for months without displaying symptoms. That can kill you in moderate doses and severely paralyze you even in small quantities. As a doctor, I highly recommend that you-"

"I've already regained my chakra control. I'm fine."

"Kiana." At the sound of my voice, Kiana tensed, turning to glare at me. "You're being unreasonable. If there's a risk that this could _kill_ you, then-"

"Well, thank you for your concern, _Uzumaki-sama_ , but I don't need it. Are we done?" she asked, looking sharply at Tsunade. The blonde was caught off guard enough to say yes and the Karibi stormed out of the room. I frowned after her retreating figure.

"What's wrong with her? I mean-" Tsunade started to backtrack and I wondered just how dark my eyes had become. I hated my eyes; they always gave away what I was thinking.

"Her sister, Shansa... She died a hero, taking three jounin and who knows how many more with her. Kiana hasn't seemed to realize that, though... Her sister's gone and there's no getting her back."

"Was she..." Tsunade's voice drifted off. "Like Kushina?"

"No. Shansa and Kiana were always close, though. Shansa was a damn good kunoichi from what I've heard and Kiana looked up to her. She was her hero."

"So to have her taken away so suddenly..." I couldn't tell exactly what was going through Tsunade's mind, but it was nothing good.

"It'll get worse before it gets better..." I murmured. Tsunade looked at me, startled, and I smiled grimly. "I had a hero too... One day he didn't come back. But this isn't just me." I tried my hand at looking less melancholic. "We've still got a lot of work to do to get ready for the war."

"What're you going to do? Don't you have to handle things here?"

"I do, but I'm not looking to abandon everyone here to march off into combat just yet. The other nations don't know about Uzushio's survival, small as it is, so we are currently your secret weapon. A weapon's no good if it's dull. Yuriko and I will get our forces up to speed. I'll talk to the Hokage about integrating us into your active duty forces for the course of the war. There's a lot to do, but we'll get it done."

Tsunade chuckled quietly.

"I don't doubt it."


	7. Chapter 7

The Hokage sat very still in his chair and I wondered if he was questioning his sanity or mine. I'd only just finished telling him my story, with Yuriko at my side. Genki stayed with the rest of the Uzushio survivors. He was handling the final clean up of the tower and organizing the other apprentices into training groups to help get everyone up to speed before being thrown into the war or, at the least, into the effort.

"You led twenty-five shinobi, many of them injured, over an eighty mile span of water?" was his first question. At that, I smiled in resignation.

"It's not like it's never been done. I walked from Uzu to Hi when I was thirteen and that was just a training mission to build my chakra control in preparation of learning advanced warding and protective seals."

"True... But the scale of it..." The Hokage shook himself lightly, as if telling himself to not question it any further. "Your story is hard to believe but, under the circumstances, I forfeit reason for evidence. I will have the daimyo alerted that you and your comrades survived the siege."

"Actually, Hokage-sama... I had another idea."

"Oh?"

"As of right now, Uzushio is dead to the world. No one lives to speak of the battle, no one lives to fight in the next war. Or, at least, that is what Iwa and Suna are thinking as they plan their battles. They don't know to expect twenty-five sealers so they won't plan for a wide range of seals."

"What are you suggesting?"

"First, I propose that we assimilate my shinobi into your reserve forces. Allow the more experienced apprentices, level nine and ten, to each take on your green genin and train them to the fight and use fuinjutsu. That will keep your rookies out of the line of fire while freeing your more senior forces for the front lines if they're needed. Once the genin have learned the basic seals, slot them together into a cohesive corps whose ongoing mission will be to supply the front line forces and outposts with a variety of seals. I have medium to high level apprentices who would be willing to oversee the corps and make sure that there are no faults in the shipments of seals."

"A sealing corps?" I could see the consideration in the Sarutobi's eyes. I smiled.

"The first of its kind. No remaining village has a trained group of sealers and will be caught unawares. The finished seals can be transported directly to the front lines by my jounin. They've all been exposed to war, they know what to expect. As such, they can teach the genin how to handle themselves in a fight so that, when they're strong enough, they can deliver the seals themselves to the outposts safely though I'd keep one of my jounin as guard just in case."

"The idea has merit... We can discuss this sealing corps later, though. I will need to have your shinobi put through an examination so they can properly be ranked if they're to join the reserve forces. And they'll need to pass a psyche evaluation, the same as all Konoha shinobi."

"I understand. I'll relay the information to the rest."

"I'd volunteer for the corps," Genki offered, taking a step forward. I smiled teasingly.

"A brat teaching brats?" He threw me a scowl.

"I've done a lot of growing up recently, sis-sama. And I'm older than you."

"By four minutes. Girls mature faster. And I'm the true sealer here." I was kidding, of course. Genki would make a valuable addition to the corps if it could get off of the ground. But I'd rather him be closer to my side. He was very good at pointing out when I messed up and I'd hate to lose that.

"My apologies, _big_ -sis-sama," he bowed his head in mock reverence and I scowled goodnaturedly. The air turned serious again. "I'm ready for it."

"I know you are, Genki... But Yuriko's not as good at being honest when I nearly make a stupid decision."

"I'm sure I can juggling babysitting rookies and babysitting you, sis."

"Oi, don't get cheeky with me, _apprentice_."

* * *

Things had finally settled as much as they would. The war machine was beginning to fire up its engines and it was clear to everyone. After my shinobi were placed in the reserve corps, many only wore their Konoha hitai-ate visibly, moving further into the village. Being aware of the presence of adept sealers made people more willing to order seals and business was good for a sealer.

The Hokage and I, after much arguing, hashed out a highly official and unnecessary treaty that stated something along the lines of, "When this war is finally over, Uzumaki Suki or the current leader of Uzushio's remaining forces will be at leisure to remove or confirm any former/current Uzushio shinobi's placement in the Konoha Reserve or Active Duty forces. Any members of the Sealing Corps shall be named as genin of Uzushio until released into Konoha's main forces, as decided by the current leader of Uzushio. Any deaths of Uzushio shinobi to take place before the termination of this agreement are to receive funeral rites as decreed by Uzushio's customs whenever possible. Official transfer of shinobi in the case of marriage or otherwise will be specified between the current Hokage and the current leader of Uzushio. The All Seal shall remain under complete control and custody of the leader of Uzushio.

There was also a passage about a new addition to the Konoha flak jacket, a small dark orange swirl made in the fashion of the Uzumaki spiral, to signify our villages' lasting partnership and to mourn the loss of Uzushio.

All in all, things were calm so I wasn't expecting an emotional bombshell when Yuriko knocked lightly on my door. I'd been reviewing Genki's lesson plans for the rookies that would be the first test run of the corps. When he had gotten his mind set on teaching, I discovered that he was an excellent candidate for the Corps Head position. He was clever enough politically, close enough to me that there won't be any issue with us being honest to each other about about its progress, and he was actually fairly patient when it came to the younger apprentices. Sure, he had a bit of temper when he was pushed too far and he was always a bit mouthy but it was nothing a few rookie teams would be traumatized by.

"Yuriko," I greeted with a smile on my face. The smile melted away when I saw the cautious look in her eyes. "What's wrong?"

"Why would anything be wrong?" Her voice was half an octave higher than usual.

"Because you're looking at me like I'm Harimau and you're an old stag with a limp. Predator, prey," I said, pointing to myself then to her. I shifted in my seat, folding one leg under me. "So, what's wrong?"

"I wouldn't say that anything's wrong, I just... I found something before we left Uzushio. I didn't want to tell you until things calmed down, and I think this is as calm as we'll get."

"You're rambling, Yuriko," I smiled. She smiled back a little meekly before striding forward, placing a folded paper in my hand. I turned the paper over, recognizing it as transfer paper. Unfolding it with a frown, I nearly dropped it as the design drawn carefully across the paper became completely visible. "Is... Is this...?"

"I found it on one of the desks in the master lounge... I think he had just finished it when Taeru-sama announced that the last of the masters had returned for your ceremony."

I was staring at the other half of my mastery tattoo. In my hands was the gift I'd expected to never be given. I had thought that my unfinished tattoo would be just another scar from a life I didn't get to fully live in my home village. But, holding that piece of paper, I felt oddly together, as if completing the tattoo would complete another aspect of me that I didn't know was fractured.

"I'm not Kizu-san... But I can finish the design if you want." She unraveled a scroll, unsealing its contents to reveal a needle and dark green ink, Yuriko's custom ink. Kizu-shishou had used a deep sapphire ink.

"Would you?"

"It would be my honor," Yuriko nodded, smiling gently. I shed the cloak about my shoulders quickly, baring my half-finished mastery tattoo to her.

The tattoo on my left forearm was quickly finished with Yuriko's nimble, well practiced hands. It was a necessary practice to be able to efficiently tattoo a seal; tattooing was a skill taught to apprentices as young as level three.

When she had moped away the residual blood and ink, I could see the reddened tattoo on my forearm.

Like all other masters, the first half of my tattoo was a triad of spirals, oriented so that each spiral fed into the next like a network of whirlpools. Kizu's contribution to the tattoo was made to accent each whirlpool individually. Around one whirlpool, tiny stars shifted and transformed until the final star which was depicted as a trio of shuriken. The next whirlpool was accented with softly curving lines and heavy teardrops feeding into the whirlpool, representing my primary and secondary elemental affinities, respectively. The final whirlpool, the one located highest on my arm, was what truly surprised me.

Located just above the final whirlpool was a small rectangle, only partially colored in, joined on either side by the Uzumaki spiral.

_The necklace..._

"How did he..." My voice drifted off as I examined the final whirlpool. Yuriko smiled sadly.

"Kizu knew a lot of things before the rest of us. Maybe he knew you would be a true master. If you were, it isn't a big stretch to imagine that you would have been Taeru-sama's successor."

I stared at the tattoo for a long moment, all but overcome by the surge of emotion I could feel pouring into me from the design itself.

I distantly remembered my master's last words to me, now precious to me: _Never doubt yourself._ Did he know?


	8. Chapter 8

I didn't know how Taeru-sama did this.

The sitting still, the ordering, the _paperwork_. No matter how much work I managed to do, there was also another stack just waiting there innocently. And I didn't even have to run an entire village, only a single tower! I could only feel for the Hokage who all but drowned in his paperwork on a daily basis, and that was taking his two secretaries into consideration.

I was slowly being driven insane and I'd only been in charge for seven months. They were very long, war torn months, but the number remained, laughing at me.

I knew it was unfair to complain while other shinobi were on the front lines, losing their lives, but that was why I complained! I was a highly trained and skilled kunoichi. Before that fateful day, I was one of Uzushio's rising jounin, a title I had worked my ass off to achieve. Now, I was the youngest master in the history of my village and I was sitting behind a desk more often than not. It was foolishness.

At least Tsunade, Orochimaru, and even Jiraiya were out there doing their part. Actually, they were doing more than their part from the reports I'd heard during one of my rendezvous with the Hokage. The three were a powerful tag team and, against the relatively meager might of a lesser village like Ame, all but untouchable. The fact that the three had chakra reserves comparable to an Uzumaki did nothing but add to their growing respect.

But it wasn't enough.

The war dragged on. The death count grew by the day. I hadn't lost anyone yet, but it was only a matter of time.

Genki's work with the Corps was paying off. His accelerated teaching schedule got all but a few of his sample group of twenty-one up to chuunin level within five and a half months of Academy graduation. They were now strong enough to deliver the seals themselves to the front though I assigned Karibi Kiana to accompany them when she was emotionally stable enough to go.

Kiana didn't temper out much, but she didn't do anything that could be seen as insubordination. She kept her toe to the line, but never crossed it. She knew I couldn't very easily do anything to her without endangering the Corps' stability, though, so she wasn't giving me much leeway. She was the only battle ready medic we had available to send with the Corps and she knew it.

Others joined Yuriko and I as masters of fuinjutsu in those seven months. Including Genki, we'd had nine jounin level apprentices and I was proud to say that, with Yuriko doing overtime in finishing their training, five of them had been given mastery tattoos. Genki's own ceremony, though much more subdued than my own, was scheduled to take place in just a few days.

"Naia!" I called, closing the scroll I'd just finished examining. After a few moments, the level six apprentice I'd appropriated as my glorified messenger arrived at my door. "I need you to bring this to the Hokage. Please alert him that it is finished to his specifications."

"Hai," Naia bowed her head, accepting the scroll and tucking it into the obi of her battle kimono. Then she was gone, taking the revised chakra restorative seal design with her. Tsunade had sent word to the Hokage of the easily depleted chakra reserves of her and the other medic nin, an issue that could cost lives. Hopefully Jiraiya would be able to safely reproduce the seal for his comrades' use.

I sighed, returning my attention to the week's sealing commissions. The most complex of the commissions were generally my responsibility alone, as Yuriko was still doing her best to teach Kushina.

The commissions were interesting to carry out. If the client didn't know the exact name of the seal they wanted, they'd describe it as specifically as possible. The first commission on my list was what I hoped was derived from an agricultural seal I'd studied in my eighth level as an apprentice.

Picking up brush and ink, I set a blank square of paper before me and got to work on the long list of orders.

Genki's mastery ceremony was not as extravagant as it should have been. If he'd been elected to take it before me, as he was the older and had been finishing his own apprenticeship as well, then he would have been greeted as an equal by over a hundred of our superiors and leaders. Instead, he was greeted by just seven others, myself included.

Regardless of our losses, though, I stood vigil with the others in the annex room that held the door leading to the lower basement.

It took precisely two days, four hours, and six minutes for the door to open, Genki stumbling out. I smiled at him brightly, ready to welcome him to the growing ranks of the masters, when he gave a strangled word that made me freeze in place.

"True." He swallowed, steadying himself against the doorframe as I rushed forward, my left arm going to his shoulder to keep him upright.

"It's alright, Genki... The seal has a stronger presence here, confined to just this space." I didn't want to hope that he meant what it sounded like. I wasn't upset, however, when his eyes searched mine for confirmation.

"I still saw it," he said a little weakly. "The colors, the array. It was alive, Suki."

I took a moment to collect my wayward thoughts before grinning and turning to the other six masters, now looking at us in concern.

"Genki has been recognized by the All Seal as a true master," I announced more than a little proud and more than a little unsettled by the new idea forming in my mind. I kept the smile on my face, though, ignoring my thoughts as the masters recovered enough to congratulate my brother.

Later, after the celebration of the ceremony was over, I had Genki meet me in my office. He entered like a wounded animal, uncertain whether he had the time to escape before I dealt a fatal blow.

"Kami, you think I'm about to kill you, Genki-nii," I chuckled, taking my seat at the large desk. Genki sat opposite me.

"Well, it's not every day that I get called into the principal's office," Genki responded, his tone friendly and joking. "I don't think I've done anything bad. At least, not recently."

"We'll talk about that prank you orchestrated against the Konoha Military Police later," I said dismissively. Genki shrunk back slightly, crestfallen at being caught. "But, right now... I have a proposition for you. Listen until I'm finished, though, since I doubt I have the patience after all my paperwork today to repeat myself..."

"Alright. You've got my attention, sis. What's up?"

"I want you to take my position."

"What?!"

"No talking," I reminded him absently. "We were both chosen by the All Seal to accomplish something, but I'm certain that I finished mine. It was my duty to warn the others of the invasion, just as it was my duty to lead our survivors to Konoha. I think my fate, as Uzushio's leader, ended after the treaty with the Hokage. You were chosen next by the All Seal and it has always been that Uzushio's leader is the most recently' chosen true master. I carried Taeru-sama's necklace from when I was named a true master and, now that you've been named in turn, it is my duty and privilege to pass it on to you."

I took the red and orange necklace from its safe place around my neck, holding it out to Genki. He didn't move to accept it.

"Bullshit. You don't have to do a damn thing. _You're_ the one, sis, that got us all out of Uzu. That's why we follow you, why I follow you. Just because I can see a bunch of colors on an array doesn't mean I'm ready to handle what you do on a daily business."

"You already more handle than what I do on a daily basis, Genki... You lead your Sealing Corps, training nearly two dozen genin in the ways of our people and our fuinjutsu, passing on the legacy of Uzushio to the next generation, and then you return here to assist the younger apprentices with their work, complete the commissions assigned to you, help me administratively, and keep everyone in line. You are a good leader."

"No better than you."

"I'm not meant for an office, Genki," I said softly. "There's a reason that Suterusu scouted me. I'm a kunoichi. My job is to take orders and kick ass, not sign peace treaties and stare at the world from a window. You would be content to lead, but being stationary for so long would drive me insane. I've been in charge for little over seven months and I can already feel the restlessness seeping into my bones. I _need_ to act. I'm being selfish, Genki, but I know that this is the right decision."

"And if I refuse?"

"You can't. The All Seal recognized you for a purpose and it's your duty to fulfill it. That was the promise you made in becoming an apprentice, just like I did."

"You're not done though!"

"I've done what the All Seal needed me to do. That chapter is closed to me."

"So what would you do? Dive headfirst into the warfront?" His question was almost mocking but I answered it honestly.

"Yes. I have been keeping close contact with the Hokage's students through Jiraiya's summons, the toads, and they've been keeping me posted on their positions. The three are good fighters but no one is strong enough to back them up. Anyone who tries just gets killed and its senseless."

"So you would take on an army in the defense of three Konoha jounin you hardly know?" Genki was not amused by my answer.

"If needed." I was just as surprised as Genki by the resolve in my voice. I tried to soften it. "There's something about them... I can't explain it, but I want to keep them close, keep them safe."

"They're our age, Suki! Older, even!" Genki cried out in exasperation.

"You're not going to change my mind on this, Genki. You are now Uzushio's leader as well as the Sealing Corps Head. I am abdicating my responsibilities onto you and, as soon as the next shipment of seals to the front is ready, I am heading into the war zone. That is final."

"You can't-"

"I can, and I just did." I laid the necklace on the desk's surface, rising to my feet.

"Then as your superior, I'm forbidding you to go."

"As if there's anyone in the village who is strong and willing enough to drag me anywhere," I scoffed. "This is a battle you aren't going to win, Genki. Just embrace it."

I walked out of the room, trying not to meet his angry- and hurt- glare.


	9. Chapter 9

I ran through the trees at a comfortable pace, only slightly burdened by the large storage scroll resting across my back.

I'd left Konoha not two days ago and not under the best of terms. Genki was still mad beyond belief at my manipulation of the All Seal's decision. The Hokage had been more welcoming and amiable to the idea though I was sure that, rather than being happy of my own initiative in the war effort, he was happier to have another pair of eyes watching his old team's backs.

It was easy to tell where the Hokage's team had been, and not just because of the bi-weekly reports Jiraiya's toads ferried to me. I could easily track the three thanks to the war path they carved, allowing their comrades to set up outposts in safety as they pushed the front deeper and deeper in Ame.

Each victory was hard won and even harder kept, though. Konoha shinobi were falling in spades to death, injury, and, in a few rare cases, enemy capture. Tsunade and her team simply couldn't cover the entirety of the border and wherever they weren't suffered massive casualties as the battle devolved into a bloody stalemate marked by guerilla and trench warfare.

I tried hard to not get distracted as I completed the Corps' rounds to the outposts but it was hard not to feel for the shinobi stationed there. I had arrived at one outpost too late, just in time to see it burned to the ground. Those who had survived were few and far between, regrouping and waiting desperately for relief from a larger outpost to the south. I stayed with them, delaying my own mission, long enough for the relief to get there but there was little I could do aside from strengthening their defenses and help around the makeshift camp where possible. Once the reinforcements came, I set off again, following the rugged trails and roads into disputed territory.

I knew exactly when I had finally caught up to the Hokage's team. I stood from an overhanging cliff, just gaping at the scene before me, overlooking the monstrous battle taking place before me.

The field before me was strewn with both Konoha and Ame dead and pockmarked with craters showing indiscriminate use of ninjutsu and explosive tags alike. The battle, which was dwindling down, had long since passed its climax and the four remaining fighters were quickly leading themselves into a stalemate. My blood ran cold as Hanzo and his giant salamander summons loomed over Jiraiya, Tsunade, and Orochimaru. The three jounin looked exhausted but Hanzo hardly seemed winded. I wondered how long they had been fighting before Hanzo joined his forces on the field.

"I'm surprised," I could hear Hanzo comment, his voice carrying over the steady rain as if amplified. "You three have survived against me longer than most. Perhaps I'll spare you, let you fight another day..."

His salamander leaned towards the three, opening its mouth as if to swallow them but Hanzo laid his hand against the beast's head, calming it. Hanzo returned his attention to the three jounin.

"As a reward for surviving, I'll name you the Densetsu no Sannin. Get stronger, little Sannin, and maybe you'll be able to survive this war." His voice was patronizing at best and I winced when Jiraiya took a step towards him.

"So you're just gonna run away then?"

 _Idiot_ , I grumbled to myself as Hanzo's expression changed from amusement to anger. I sprang into action, jumping in front of Jiraiya just as the massive salamander took a deep breath. I shot a kick at Jiraiya, who was too drained to defend himself in time, and knocked him out of danger as the salamander exhaled, launching a poisonous cloud directly at me.

"Fool," Hanzo spat. "This isn't your fight, little girl." I glared up at Ame's leader.

"Your tetrodotoxin doesn't affect me. Jiraiya," I said, only turning my head slightly to keep my eyes on Hanzo. "Get out of here. Tsunade, Orochimaru, you too. I'll catch up later."

"Suki, you can't!" Tsunade shouted to me, taking a step forward despite the quickly spreading poisonous gas. "He's too strong!"

"If you interfere, I'll never forgive you. This is personal." I turned my gaze onto Hanzo who studied me carefully before chuckling darkly.

"That hair... It seems one little mouse escaped. Don't fret. I'll be sure to remedy the situation, _girl_ , and you will be reunited with your clan."

"I am Uzumaki Suki, the Umi Ryokou. Remember that well, Hanzo," I spat, going through a familiar set of hand seals before slamming my palm on the ground. Smoke surrounded me as I felt myself being lifted up.

"Great. An upstart newt," Koukyo growled. "You sure know how to pick your battles, kid."

"A toad?" Hanzo sneered. Koukyo stiffened beneath me and I grinned, drawing a kunai.

"Nobody calls _me_ a toad," Koukyo snarled, drawing his katana. "Kid, ya might wanna get off."

In hindsight, challenging the legendary Hanzo of the Salamander to a one and one fight was probably not the wisest decision I could have made. He had years of experience on me and it was only my own creativity and sheer dumb luck that kept me alive and mostly uninjured long enough to buy the newly named Sannin the time they needed to hightail it out of there. I was close on their heels, though, busying Hanzo with an army of shadow clones and trapping the ground every three feet as I followed the Sannin out.

Still, it was a battle that needed to happen. Now I knew how much stronger I'd have to get to fight him on even terms and I was happy to note that it was a margin I'd be able to fill with a few more years of experience and training. Assuming I survived the war, that is. I already would have a new scar thanks to Hanzo, who had managed to carve a jagged gash into my arm just beneath my mastery tattoo.

As soon as I was out of the battle, a tiny white slug had appeared in my path, introducing herself as a summons of Tsunade's. With Katsuyu's help, I found my way to a somewhat sheltering rock formation.

Relief seeping into my bones as my eyes found the small and distinctive light of a campfire, I staggered towards it, the days of running only catching up to me now.

"Suki!" I smiled at Tsunade's worried voice as the blonde rushed forward, her hands already glowing a dull green as she caught sight of my bloodied arm. "I can't believe you did that! That was so reckless!"

"Well, I can't let Jiraiya always be the stupid one," I joked as Tsunade's teammates joined us in the rain.

"You shouldn't have done that. _I'm_ saying that was a reckless move," Jiraiya said seriously. "How did you get out?"

"Come. We have some rations left," Orochimaru, ever the cool character, informed me calmly. "You should get dried off."

"Thanks, Oro," I nodded absently, letting Tsunade gently pull me towards the rocky shelter. The medic nin had me sit beside the fire and Jiraiya took a seat next to me as Tsunade continued to heal my arm. Orochimaru sat across from us, studying me closely.

"So how did you get away?" Jiraiya asked after Tsunade had finished bandaging my arm and I'd been given a bowl of thin soup by Orochimaru. I smiled weakly.

"A hell of a lot of clones and traps mostly. I sort of swarmed him and escaped in the smokescreen created when the clones dispelled."

"But you only got a scratch," Orochimaru frowned thoughtfully.

"I wouldn't call it a scratch," Tsunade grumbled. "She'll be lucky if she can form two handed seals by the end of the week."

"I'll be fully healed after a couple of days," I said, shaking my head. "Uzumaki healing and whatnot."

"So, how exactly did you get this far from Konoha? Doesn't running everything for Uzushio's finest kind of keep you tied down?" Jiraiya asked. My thoughts went to Genki and I winced. He hadn't come to see me leave.

"I abdicated the leadership to Genki. He's not too happy about it, but he'll keep everything under control until he finds a way to blackmail me back into the office."

"You don't want power?" Orochimaru asked. I shook my head.

"Not if it means that I'm stuck like that... I'm better in the field then signing papers all day."

"So you just did it to avoid paperwork?" Tsunade teased lightly. I shrugged with a wry grin.

"Among other things."

"That's surprisingly irresponsible, Suki-san," Orochimaru chided. I shrugged, wincing as the bandages tightened around my upper arm.

"You're going to get yourself killed out here," Tsunade murmured. I raised an eyebrow at her.

"And you're not? I think Hiruzen only let me leave as easily as he did is because he knew I'd be coming to back you three up. He gets worried about you guys."

"Aw, Suki-chan cares about us," Jiraiya grinned. I rolled my eyes.

"Don't read too much into it, baka."

"Hey!" He pouted sadly.

* * *

 

I stayed with the Sannin, as they became known, for weeks. I was at their side, fighting through huge battles and small skirmishes alike. We didn't meet up with Hanzo again but there were plenty of his underlings who were interested to test themselves against the Sannin and the Umi Ryokou. My pseudo-title quickly grew from a vague rumor to a listing in the bingo book as an A ranked shinobi and the only known survivor of Uzushio. The Uzushio hitai-ate I still wore around my neck became an identifying feature for the shinobi I faced in battle and the Uzumaki crest became synonymous with my name with the Konoha shinobi who followed the Sannin and I into dangerous territory.

I was glad to note that I was able to rely on the Sannin and vice versa and, for the first time since Uzushio's destruction, I felt a sense of belonging and equality. With them, I was not Uzumaki-sama. I wasn't even just the Umi Ryokou, the Sea Traveller. I was a member of the team, even if I hadn't known them half as long as they'd been together as a team.

The four of us were inseparable. At least, that's what I thought.

I read the scroll in my hands, feeling a cold weight settling in my stomach. When I was finished, I set it down on the wooden table before me, taking a deep breath.

"What's wrong, Suki?" a familiar voice rang out from over my shoulder. I turned my head to glance over my shoulder to see Jiraiya standing over me, running a towel through his partially dried hair. We were never fully dry in this country but, sheltered in the newly assembled outpost we'd been resting at, we were able to take a break from the ceaseless rain.

"Word from my brother."

"Bad?" Jiraiya's usual goofy grin was nowhere in sight as he took the chair adjacent to me, sitting down at the small table.

"Very."

"... Do you want to talk about it?"

Logically, I knew that I shouldn't tell Jiraiya but I doubted I'd be able to keep it to myself.

"Kiana's been trying to stir up trouble, which isn't new, but she got Konoha nin involved this time. She got it in her head that Genki was more of a pushover than I am so she rounded up half a dozen fourteen year olds who got kicked out of the Sealing Corps and organized a coup. They were stopped before it got too far, but four of the chuunin are hospitalized and another is dead."

"Very bad," Jiraiya said echoed, swallowing tightly. I nodded, taking another deep breath.

"The families have been calling for recompense and the Civilian Council is backing them all the way. Kiana's still under diplomatic immunity as an Uzushio refugee, though, and she didn't technically do anything but plant the idea in their heads."

"So the villagers are calling for her head but she can't be pinned for it?" Jiraiya summarized with a frown. I nodded tiredly. "Can't Genki just strip her of the immunity?"

"It's not that simple... He could strip her of the immunity, but that'd put him in a more dangerous place with the rest of us. If he exercises his right to strip anyone of their status as an Uzushio shinobi, then what's to stop him from using it on anyone else? What's to stop him from using it on me? I've pretty much abandoned the village for the war in their eyes."

"It's not like that," Jiraiya began to say but I interrupted him.

"Isn't it?" I asked tiredly. "I gave the leadership to Genki the minute he was eligible for it and left two days later. No one in the village knows if or when I'll be coming back and what kind of conflicts will come up if I return."

"Genk will stay in charge and you'll-"

"I'll what? We'll all ignore the fact that I was in charge for seven of the hardest months Uzushio's faced as a village? That won't work and you know it. And now I'm making a name for myself outside of the village, so that the others will expect me to reclaim the leadership from Genki, whose only leadership previously was in the Sealing Corps."

"It'd create a power struggle," Jiraiya realized belatedly. I nodded wearily.

"But I have to go back, if only temporarily. Genki can't handle this without alienating anyone."

"But if you go, then what'll happen to..." Jiraiya's voice drifted off but I knew what he meant. I was wondering much the same. What would happen to our four-man team if we were split up? If I went back to Konoha, and Orochimaru was sent to command that outpost Hiruzen had mentioned in his last message, would Jiraiya and Tsunade be separated? Would we ever be put back together?

"I'm coming back," I said, hoping that my voice sounded more certain than I felt. Jiraiya studied me carefully before putting on a small smile.

"You'd better."

"After all, there's no one else patient enough to try to teach you sealing," I joked halfheartedly. Jiraiya only laughed, that goofy grin back on his face.

It made me happier than I'd admit to see that grin back.


	10. Chapter 10

The moment I was within Konoha's walls, I was greeted by an unfamiliar and unfriendly guard of two ANBU. I resisted a scowl but knew I wouldn't get anywhere fighting against them.

"Were you two ordered by the Council?"

No response.

"Are you going to leave my side at any time in the foreseeable future?"

No response.

I sighed.

"Wonderful."

"She must be punished for her treason!"

"She committed no treason against Konoha."

"My son is _dead_ , and _she_ is to blame! Where is the justice?"

I sat in silence as the Council argued around me. Genki sat beside me. We were in a sticky situation but, for now, he was the true leader and I was an advisor.

I had spent less than twenty minutes within the Council chambers and I already deeply loathed ninety percent of the councillors. I wasn't a fan of Kiana and I couldn't defend her latest stunt but I could hardly approve of the way the councillors spoke of her like she wasn't standing trial in the center of the room, standing alone from everyone else.

"Genki, may I?" I asked under my breath. He shot me a cautious look but nodded. At the invitation, I stood. Knowing that no one would one notice me until I did something to get their attention, I stepped around the small railing separating the jurors from the accused, joining Kiana in the center of the council chambers. As predicted, silence quickly fell.

"That is enough," I commanded, gazing around the room. "It is not within your rights to punish Karibi Kiana. She has wronged you, that is true, but it is also true that she is a kunoichi of Uzushiogakure. Any crimes she has committed are therefore made on an international level, not domestic. This council has no leverage in Uzushiogakure."

"She is an active shinobi of Konoha!" the father of an injured chuunin roared angrily. I fixed my stare at him.

"The accused served under Konoha only so long as the leader of Uzushiogakure wishes, as determined from the contract I made with your Hokage. Kiana was removed from Konoha's rosters shortly before the incident due to a concerns brought up by a number of her superiors."

"Is this true?" The man's eyes burned into Genki but my brother was calm as he nodded.

"This is no issue for Konoha to address. The event that brought us together here is tragic in nature, but it is an internal conflict for my sister and I to resolve within _our_ ranks. That said, do not forget that your own sons and daughters had as large a part in this as Kiana. They are not blameless and I do not want to see them go unpunished."

Silence. I resisted the urge to grin at my brother.

_And he said that he wouldn't be a good leader. It's been only a few months and he's managed to stun the Council into silence._

"Stand. We are returning to the tower," I ordered of Kiana. The woman glared at me halfheartedly as she got to her feet, wincing. I frowned at her wince but my confusion melted into anger as Kiana readjusted the manacles against her wrist, shifting her shift just enough for me to see the bruises blooming across her skin.

 _She was tortured_ , I realized angrily. I had to take a moment to control my breathing, to get my poker face up in full force, and then lightly laid a hand against Kiana's back. The woman hissed in pain but did not look to me.

"Hokage-sama, we have much to talk about in the aftermath of this," Genki directed at Hiruzen. I was startled by the man's appearance. He was probably only in his mid-forties but he looked years older.

"We do indeed... If you require anything to properly treat Karibi-san, do not hesitate to let me know."

"Kiana... What have you done to yourself?" I asked softly, watching as a medic treated Kiana's bruised body. She held herself very differently, I noted. Instead of the proud and haughty young woman I'd left, she seemed so... _defeated_. Her shoulders slumped as if unable to hold up her head and her eyes rarely left the ground.

She didn't seem to be in any hurry to respond so I continued on.

"No one is going to let Genki or I forgive or forget this... This isn't just a prank or a try for attention. A chuunin is dead and others seriously hurt..."

"I never meant it to go this far," Kiana said suddenly, looking up at me with a desperate light in her eyes. "No one was supposed to get hurt; it was just a-"

"People _did_ get hurt, though, Kiana... If this had happened back at Uzu, you would have been tried for treason and more than likely faced execution. We can't pretend that it's not a big deal. Your actions could have led to our asylum in Konoha being revoked; where would we have gone in that case? Back to our ravaged homeland?"

"So you're going to kill me." I hated that I felt bad for her. She did this to herself, but she sounded so broken. She really had never recovered from her sister's death.

"No," I said slowly. "There are too few of us left and just because you made some exceptionally stupid mistakes, that doesn't justify an execution. The best I can do, though, to both keep you safe and keep the Council at bay is to seal your chakra."

Kiana's breath caught as the medic nin drifted over a particularly dark bruise. Her eyes closed in pain.

"That's it?" she asked shakingly. "But being a kunoichi is all I've ever known. I don't- I don't know what I'll do."

"The only alternative is to have you placed on house arrest for the rest of your life and I'm not about to order that, Kiana. You could recover, start as a life as a civilian, and move past this."

"What would I do?" Kiana's voice was tainted by a grimace.

"Find a nice guy, settle down, maybe start a restaurant that specializes in ramen," I suggested jokingly. "Genki would become your new best friend." I was glad when Kiana laughed weakly.

"Ramen for the working ninja," Kiana chuckled. I smiled gently.

I walked into the Uzumaki compound, now the Uzushio Headquarters. I didn't bother to stop and chat with any of my once-subordinates. I snuck around corners to avoid gathering attention, ducking through doorways when anyone got too close, and carefully made my way to the All Seal.

Once I was before the sealing array, I got to work straight away, tracing the colorful bands and splashes to find the natal blessing linking Kiana to the All Seal. This would be the first mark of her removal from our ranks.

Closing my eyes briefly, I stopped my thoughts short as they drifted to questions. It would do no good to wonder if Kiana would feel the blessing fade.

Opening my eyes, I dissolved the connection between Kiana and the seal.

I was never so glad to re enter a war zone.

The incident with Kiana was as resolved as it would get without her execution but I knew that having her chakra permanently sealed and having her stripped off citizenship in both Konoha and Uzushio was not punishment enough for much of the Council. The chuunin that had been involved had been branded as unstable and were relieved of duty pending psyche evaluations. Altogether, I had to do quite a bit of dirty work when it came to Kiana's treatment but Genki's leadership was still secure.

Kushina was thriving in Konoha, even if the village was impacted by the ongoing war. Yuriko was continuing her apprenticeship, though at a slower rate, and Kushina was steadily working her way towards being a level four apprentice. After I'd left, and much begging and pleading, she'd blackmailed Genki into allowing her to sign up for the Ninja Academy where she met a number of friends her age. It was bittersweet to be away from Kushina for so long and to miss so much happening in her life, but I knew that the war had to be stopped and that the Sannin needed someone strong enough to watch their backs. It wasn't healthy for the weight of the war to rest on the shoulders of three barely-adults and Konoha's White Fang. They would all burn out if they weren't careful.

My concerns drifted away as I ran once more towards the fire and explosions. Jiraiya's latest report placed the Sannin only a few dozen more miles towards Ame's heart. With luck, I'd get there without any trouble and less than a week after I'd left Konoha.

I regretted that little hope the moment I thought of it. Sure, my luck was better than Tsunade's- the blonde had already learned not to accept an invitation to a friendly game of strip poker from Jiraiya- but only slightly.

Sighing to myself, I straightened my Uzushio hitai-ate and carried on my way.

I tread carefully though the recent battlefield. The standard ceasefire to gather the dead had been enacted, but I was careful to watch my back as a handful of Ame shinobi and medics drifted through the rubble of the small town. I spotted a Konoha nin here and there, moving through the shadows as they worked to ensure that no man was left behind, but I was largely alone in the scene.

I moved onward until a sickeningly distinct sound stole my attention away from my destination. I turned away from the road, my eyes tracking the sound to a fallen section of a cement wall. Seeing the wall, I resisted a grimace and moved closer, making a trio of clones to assist me. I wrapped my fingers around the edge of the wall and, with a shaky breath, reinforced my muscles with chakra and slowly raised the thick cement off of the ground. My clones helped, raising the broken wall straight up to ensure that no further damage was done to the unlucky soul trapped beneath. Once the wall was completely clear, my clones took over and threw it a few yards deeper into the remnants of the mostly demolished house.

I brushed a few more pieces of debris away and found myself staring at a dying man. I would guess that he was only a few years older than me. Little rivulets of blood trickled down his face from small cuts and scratches on his forehead, framing his dark eyes and dying his light brown hair an ugly mud brown. He bore no hitai-ate, or weapons of any kind. A civilian, caught in the crossfire, that had likely refused to be evacuated from their home. A metal pipe, just over an inch in diameter, was lodged firmly in the man's abdomen and I knew he was beyond saving by the medics Konoha had brought here. Only Tsunade would have a hope at saving this man and she was still dozens of miles west.

A gargled rasp escaped the man's throat and I took his hand firmly, brushing his hair out of his face with my other hand.

"Easy, easy," I murmured. "Don't try to talk..."

"No," the man said, clearer this time. His eyes were wide with fear and horror. "No..."

"I know," I said softly. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry..."

"Not... Ready," the man gasped out and I held his hand tighter.

"I know you're not, but it'll go away soon. The pain will go away," I promised. "Just breathe... It'll be okay."

Another strangled gasp escaped the man and his hold on my hand tightened. His eyes were watering but any tears he shed were lost to the steady drizzle surrounding us.

"It'll be okay..." I kept murmuring under my breath. The man's breath staggered and slowed, his blood mixing with the mud beneath us. His hand grew cool to the touch, his face pale and ashen, and I could do nothing but lie to him as his pulse faded to nothingness. He was just a civilian. He'd done nothing wrong. He had a family, friends, and a life in this village and now it was all meaningless.

 _Enough. That is enough_ , I swore to myself over a cooling body. _I am going to end this war if it kills me._


	11. Chapter 11

I couldn't help but smile as I found myself on the receiving end of a surprise hug.

"Suki!"

"I'll count to three," I said jokingly. "One... Two..."

"Alright, I'm off," Jiraiya grinned, backing away from me just a little.

"Baka," Tsunade scowled at him before turning to me, hugging me briefly. "How was Konoha, Suki-chan?"

"Ne, Tsunade-hime, why can you call Suki that and I can't?" Jiraiya pouted. I answered for Tsunade.

"Because I like Tsunade-chan, Ero-kun."

"I'm not a pervert," Jiraiya sulked. Orochimaru approached from the campfire, striking me with a wave of deja vu. He never really jumped for joy whenever I showed up.

"You embarrass yourself in that sense constantly, Jiraiya," Orochimaru said cooly, sending his teammate into a deeper depression, hanging his head and murmuring to himself sadly. Orochimaru bowed his head to me. "It is nice to see you once more, Suki-san."

"Will you ever just call me Suki?" I asked with mock impatience. Orochimaru offered me the barest trace of a smile but I took it gladly. "So, Oro-taicho, what's on the Densetsu no Sannin's schedule for the foreseeable future?"

"Why is he always in charge?" Jiraiya complained.

"The Kei Outpost to the west has reported a series of illnesses that suggest that Ame has begun using biological warfare in their gas attacks."

"We'll start moving there so I can take a crack at whatever Ame's cooked up," Tsunade said with an anticipatory smile, as if she couldn't wait to investigate the enemy's latest ploy to kill us.

"Has Kei given you any more information about the illness? Symptoms, death count, anything?"

"Nothing yet," Orochimaru reported, shaking his head. "We've had issues with message interception so there's a standing order to keep all messages as short as possible. It must be fairly serious to warrant summoning Tsunade out of the front, though."

"So when do we leave?"

"Immediately."

"We were waiting for you to show, actually," Jiraiya said a little sheepishly. I frowned at that.

"You should have left. You could have left a toad here telling me where to go next," I hummed. "It's not like I'm not used to tracking you three through a war zone or anything."

"True enough," Jiraiya admitted before looking over at his two teammates. "So... We're going, then?"

* * *

We'd been running deeper and deeper into disputed territory, taking a riskier path directly through enemy land to get to the western front faster, when we finally needed to slow down. Jiraiya hadn't, as he guiltily explained to me, escaped the last battle unscathed and it showed in the limp that grew more and more pronounced as we ran. It wasn't noticable when he was walking but it would slow him down in a fight.

The four of us were walking across a bridge when I registered a trio of presences behind us. I froze, getting the others to stop, before turning around slowly.

Standing a few yards away from us were three children, so unthreatening that I didn't even pick them up until they'd gotten so close. There were two boys- one with hauntingly familiar red hair and one with bright orange hair- and a girl with blue hair.

"You're all shinobi from Konohagakure, right?" the boy with orange hair in the middle spoke first. I smiled at the almost rebellious quality of his voice. "Teach us ninjutsu."

I glanced at Jiraiya, only to see him looking at me already.

"Shall I kill these children?"

And now my attention was firmly latched on Orochimaru.

"Oro," I said warningly.

"I've seen war orphans before. It's pitiful. They would be better off if we just put them out of their misery right now."

"That's enough, Orochimaru," Jiraiya interrupted, turning to face him.

"You three go on ahead." The words were out of my mouth before I could prevent them.

"Suki?" Tsunade asked. I nodded at her with a small smile.

"You're the one that's got to get to Kei... And I'm a war orphan myself, aren't I? It's the least I can do to make sure they can protect themselves out here." Against my will, my thoughts drifted to Kushina. What would have happened to her if I hadn't let her help me with the All Seal? Would she have been killed or left defenseless like these three?

"Suki... Are you sure?" Jiraiya asked, his voice surprisingly serious. I looked to him and nodded. After a long moment, Jiraiya looked to Orochimaru. "You and Tsunade-hime go on. I'll make sure Suki stays out of trouble."

"You don't have to-"

"I'm already slowing them down," Jiraiya said, gesturing to his teammates and then his hurt leg dismissively. "We've got men at Kei that need our little Slug Queen watching their backs."

"Baka," Tsunade growled at the nickname. Jiraiya only waved her away.

"Go on, I'll be fine," he promised. Tsunade hesitated before looking to me.

"Keep the idiot out of trouble, alright?"

"I'll be sure to."

"Let's go," Orochimaru said, interrupting the goodbyes with his normal brisk attitude. I gave Tsunade one final hug.

"Get out of here," I ordered with a smile. "We'll be fine."

"I'll keep you to that."

And then Tsunade and Orochimaru were gone, leaving Jiraiya and I with the three kids. I looked at them, the redhead in particular. It couldn't be a coincidence that his hair exactly matched mine. That shade was too rare, too specific, for him to not be an Uzumaki or closely related to one.

If this kid was here, then there was a possibility for more survivors, spread far and few but still alive.

"Jiraiya, is that contact of yours still living around here?"

"KIA about six months ago," Jiraiya said, shaking his head. "His house should still be standing, though."

"Sounds good to me. Let's go get dried off."

"Who are you?" the boy with orange hair asked, his brow furrowed with confusion. I raised an eyebrow.

"Who are you?" I asked back, amused. "It's polite to give your name first, gaki."

"I'm Yahiko." I nodded before looking to the girl.

"O-Oh! My name is Konan," she introduced with a bright smile. Lastly I looked to the redheaded boy. He shifted his weight as if he were uncomfortable.

"Nagato," he muttered so low I hardly heard him. I smiled.

"Well, Yahiko, Konan, Nagato, you can all call me Suki, or Suki-sensei. And you might know-"

"The beautiful and gallant Jiraiya of the Sannin," the white haired man introduced dramatically. I sighed tiredly.

"What man introduces himself as beautiful, baka? I swear, I'm going to be teaching you _with_ the kids."

"Oi, just because I'm not a sealing master doesn't mean-"

"Actually, it does mean I'm a hell of a lot better with fuinjutsu than you," I smirked. "Now let's go. I'm sick of all of this rain."

* * *

That night, after walking through the rain for another two hours to get to Jiraiya's late informant's house, I found myself sitting next to Nagato after dinner as Jiraiya boasted to the kids about how awesome he was and how lucky they were to have him as a sensei.

"Suki-sensei..." It sounded like Nagato had a hard time getting the words out, like they were bitter tasting, but I was silent to let him continue. "You said that you were a war orphan too."

"I am..." I leaned back in my seat. "Do you know what the symbol on my hitai-ate is for?" The boy shook his head. "Jiraiya's has the emblem of Konohagakure, marking him as a Konoha nin. But mine is from my home village, Uzushiogakure."

"Uzu...shio..."

"Yes... My village was destroyed at the very beginning of this war... Uzushio was never very large, but we were feared and respected for our skill at fuinjutsu, a very specific and difficult branch of jutsu that takes years to learn and even longer to master. We had very close ties to Konohagakure, which was sort of like our big sister village, and we were allies with them throughout the First Shinobi War, which Konoha won with our help."

"If you were so strong, how were you beat?" Yahiko asked. I looked up to realize that the others had quieted, even Jiraiya, and were listening to my story.

"We were caught off guard... Uzushio was very specific about following traditions and customs to ensure the village's safety and the continuation of our people. One of those traditions was the mastery ceremony. It's done when a sealing apprentice has completed their education and is ready to be recognized as a master... It's a little difficult to explain without a lot of backstory, but during my mastery ceremony, I was made aware of an incoming attack force... There were over three hundred enemy shinobi from Ame, Iwa, and Suna, all headed to our island nation. I warned our leader and the village masters but we simply didn't have the time to prepare like we should have. Even so, Uzushio did not fall for three days.

"But..." I took a moment to collect my thoughts. "We did fall. Nearly five hundred men, women, and children died in the siege. Less than thirty survivors, myself included, made it out of the broken village. Our last leader, Uzumaki Taeru, died in the siege and left me control so I gathered our fallen and injured, and all that remained and we walked across the sea to Hi no Kuni... We ran for miles, fearing pursuit or capture, but we were lucky. The first people to see us were three rather extraordinary Konohagakure jounin that you now know as the Densetsu no Sannin."

"Really?" Konan murmured, smiling brightly at Jiraiya. He laughed uneasily, scratching the back of his head.

"It was pretty heroic, I know."

"They were returning to Konoha from a successful mission and, seeing the necklace that marked me as Uzushio's leader, Orochimaru decided that it would be best for me to talk to the Sandaime Hokage. Sandaime-dono granted us asylum and, in gratitude, the survivors of Uzushio have been working behind the scenes to end this war quickly."

"You're not working behind the scenes," Yahiko noted with a smirk. I looked up at him, serious.

"Behind the scenes was never my style of action, Yahiko... I was forced to sit by and guard Uzushio's treasures while my village, my home, burned above my head. I was forced to sit as Konoha marched forward into battle and I was pushing papers across my desk. I sat as this idiot," I said, gesturing to Jiraiya, "and his teammates put themselves in harm's way defending their home while _I_ couldn't. I don't work from behind the scenes because I can't stop all this senseless killing from behind a desk. I don't care if I'll have to fight Hanzo of the Salamander, the Tsuchikage, the Kazekage, and whoever else standing between me and peace."

There was a long moment of silence before Yahiko smiled brightly at me, as if I'd passed a test with flying colors.

"So you're really strong, then?"

"Oi, Suki, stop stealing them from me," Jiraiya pouted. I only smiled.

* * *

Spending time with the Ame orphans reminded me of the early days of me taking care of Kushina. In that little wooden cabin, there was no looming war to be fought. We supplemented rations with fish Jiraiya and the boys managed to catch and with food Konan and I purchased from the market in the village to the east.

Spending those months in Ame laid foundation for a growing guilt, though, that told me that if I was to spend any time being domestic, it should be with my own family. I hated that I loved telling Nagato, Konan, and Yahiko stories of my childhood in Uzushio. I hated that I loved helping Konan put her hair up before training, fishing with Yahiko, and watching as a seal blew up in Nagato's face and covered the boy in soot. But that was nothing to the hatred I felt for the new tightness in my chest every time I saw that idiot put on that goofy grin.

Sighing to myself, I continued braiding my hair. It was getting far too long again and I'd have to cut it soon or it'd become a nuisance in battle. For now, though, I could keep it drifting towards the ground so long as it didn't trail into the mud.

"Suki-sensei, Jiraiya-sensei wants to know when you'll be done," a voice I recognized as Yahiko's asked through my door. I chuckled when Jiraiya growled at the boy.

"Don't make me sound like a nag, brat!"

"But, sensei... You sort of are- Argh!" Yahiko yelped and something- presumably Yahiko- slammed into my door. I got to my feet and opened my door and, true enough, Yahiko was delirious on the floor with Jiraiya whistling nonchalantly over him. I rolled my eyes and knelt down next to Yahiko.

"Aww, poor Yahiko-kun... Is Jiraiya being a bully?" I pouted.

"He's so mean, Suki-sensei," Yahiko said, playing along. Jiraiya scowled and turned, walking down the hall and grumbling to himself all the way.

"You've been working on your sullen look," I noted proudly. Yahiko grinned at me and nodded. "Nice. Now, let's go find Jiraiya before he yells at Konan and Nagato."

"I heard that!" Jiraiya's voice rang out from somewhere else in the small house.


	12. Chapter 12

It was one of those rare days the kids had off. Of course, neither Jiraiya nor I were really teaching them anything dangerous but it was good to let them sleep late, relax, and not worry about running five miles in the rain before breakfast.

That wasn't to say that Jiraiya or I took off, though. On the kids' free days, we would spar, keeping our skills sharp while maintaining the kids' healthy respect of our fighting prowess. Jiraiya was a good opponent once he could get his head around the fact that a woman would kick his ass if he wasn't careful. Today we weren't too worried about a serious spar, though.

"Missed me!" Jiraiya taunted childishly as he ducked under a volley of kunai.

"Did I?" I asked dryly, forcing Jiraiya to glance back at the kunai for any explosive tags. While he was even slightly distracted, I took the time to get it close and launch a roundhouse kick at him, sending him flying. "I could have sworn I hit you..."

"Well played," Jiraiya coughed, getting up from the muddy ground. A mischievous light entered his eyes and I tensed, getting ready for a sucker punch of a move. I was not to be disappointed, either.

Jiraiya punched at the muddy ground, sending out a small wave of mud towards me that, to avoid, I loosed a weak water blast towards the man, stopping the mud in its tracks and dousing Jiraiya with cold water. Jiraiya dispelled into a burst of smoke, though, revealing my opponent to have been a shadow clone. Recognizing his trick, I drew a kunai with one of my more specialized elemental release seals and slammed the kunai into the ground, jumping straight up as the seal was wracked with sparks.

The seal released a strong burst of electricity that traveled through the kunai before spreading quickly through the watery mud it had been stabbed into and Jiraiya yelped, unwilling being forced to the surface. Unfortunately, what comes up must come down and Jiraiya surfaced exactly where I had been.

Within the span of just a few seconds, I found myself straddling Jiraiya in the mud.

"Nice job, sensei!" I distantly heard Yahiko cheer loudly, Konan echoing him. Part of me wanted to know to which 'sensei' was he referring- me for pinning Jiraiya or Jiraiya for... well... _getting_ pinned- but the rest of me was too busy blushing to care.

I scrambled off and away from Jiraiya, a stammered apology escaping my lips, but the man didn't seem to be too highly offended. I was sorely tempted to smack that lecherous grin off of his face but I knew that this was my own fault.

"Oh, it was my plea- Argh!"

Jiraiya went flying off into the lake and, with clenched fists, I stormed back into the cabin.

I could say many things about Jiraiya, but I had to admit that he was in exceptional shape-

_No! Bad thoughts, Suki. Bad thoughts!_

* * *

I shut the door quietly, not wishing to wake up the boy once he'd just gotten to sleep, but all of my efforts to keep quiet were nearly destroyed when Jiraiya spoke softly to me, just a few feet away.

"Kid still having nightmares?" he asked. I had to take a long moment to not be so overcome with abject terror at his silent approach that I screamed bloody murder. When my heartbeat had returned to a steady beat, I nodded grimly.

"He watched as his parents were murdered by Konoha ninja, Jiraiya... That isn't something he'll just recover from at the drop of a hat." I'll admit it: I was worried for Nagato. "He's doing better, but..."

"It's me, isn't it?" Jiraiya asked softly. My eyes shot to his face and I was startled to see a guilty expression on his face and a somber light in his eyes. "I'm the Konoha nin still in the equation."

"It's not you, Jiraiya... He knows you won't hurt him."

"No. He knows you'll keep him safe," Jiraiya objected quietly. I frowned.

"Then I know you won't hurt him," I defended. I watched as the man ran a hand through his long white hair, something I recognized as a nervous tick. Before I could think otherwise, I reached out and grabbed his wrist, bringing his hand back down. The action made me step closer to him but, for once, I didn't feel the need to step away.

"Suki..."

I didn't realize how much taller Jiraiya was until I had to look up to meet his eyes, dark with emotion.

"Suki-sensei?"

I could have face palmed.

Instead, I stepped away from Jiraiya and put a fake smile on my face as I turned to face the little girl who was up past her bedtime.

"Yes, Konan-chan?" At the sound of my voice, Konan hesitated. After thinking very carefully, she swallowed.

"It's nothing," she decided before escaping back into her room.

* * *

I was really beginning to hate these almost-moments. They happened sporadically, leaving me defenseless to avoid them, and they always left my mind a jumbled mess.

Ranging from being forced to sidestep back and forth through the narrow halls of the cabin to coming just a little too close in spars, or having to pull him out of danger when his seals started to go wrong to helping the kids get stronger, I was always pushed closer and closer to Jiraiya. The most frustrating thing about it, however, was that there was never a resolution to one of these almost-moments. I had no idea how any of them would end uninterrupted because, without fail, one of the three kids would _always_ stumble into the moment with some inane question or comment.

It was ridiculous and, thanks to the unwritten ending to every occasion, it was getting harder and harder to remind myself that Jiraiya was an idiotic pervert. Actually, that was impossible to forget- it was difficult to remember why that and his other quirks weren't endearing.

I tried everything to get one of those almost-moments to end. I gave Jiraiya more or less private fuinjutsu lessons so often that he rose from a level six apprentice to an eight in less than six months. I let the kids go fishing unsupervised just so Jiraiya and I were alone in the house. I put more focus into my taijutsu during spars to get closer. It was all in vain, though. Invariably, one of the three kids would step in.

"Suki-sensei! Jiraiya-sensei!" I hadn't hear Konan's voice so distressed in months so, naturally, I was immediately snapped out of my thoughts. I stood from the living room couch where I'd been absent mindedly drawing out a rough sketch of a transport seal and walked to the front porch to meet Konan. The purple haired girl's face was tear streaked and she was murmuring nonsense as I knelt beside her.

"Nagato- Ninja- Yahiko- hurt," she stammered out, one shaking hand pointing out into the rain. I looked up and saw that Jiraiya had already joined us, a grim and worried light in his eyes.

"Can you take us there, Konan?"

"H-Hai."

* * *

"Yahiko! Nagato!" As Jiraiya ran to Yahiko's side, I ran to Nagato's. From a glance, Yahiko was unconscious. Nagato was conscious but heavily shaken if the look of horror on his face as he took in the sight of the dead ninja on the ground in front of him was any clue. As I got closer to Nagato, I had to work to prevent doing a double take.

Nagato's eyes were a dark lilac color accented with concentric rings expanding from around his pupil. I knew what that pattern meant and what it confirmed.

I hugged Nagato tightly, murmuring to him comfortingly.

Nagato possessed the Rinnegan, the prized secret of the Uzumaki clan. He, however distantly, was my family.

"I won't let anyone hurt you," I promised.

* * *

"So you and Nagato are related?" Yahiko summarized, tightening his hold on the blanket wrapped around his shoulders. I nodded, my eyes wandering to Nagato's usual seat next to me. The redhead, after the incident, had hid himself in his room immediately after we returned to the cabin, claiming he was tired. I knew better and Jiraiya knew better but we would give him his space for now.

"Yes... What he used to keep you safe is an ocular kekkai genkai called the Rinnegan. It's a very unique doujutsu passed on through Uzumaki blood but hardly anyone ever manifests it due to its very specific and emotionally destroying requirements."

"Kekkai genkai?" Konan asked. I hummed thoughtfully.

"Picture a specific trait or type of ninjutsu. If that trait is unique to one family or bloodline, it often is classified as a kekkai genkai. It sometimes gives a ninja an edge in battle or another option of fighting but they vary on usefulness. There are clans who can manipulate water without hand seals, or communicate telepathically to animals. There's a clan in Konoha that have an ocular kekkai genkai called the Byakugan which can see far off distances through obstacles. The Rinnegan is no different, but it is nearly always dormant."

"So you could attain it?" Jiraiya asked. I frowned and shook my head.

"At this point in my life, I doubt it... In the few documented cases of the Rinnegan's manifestation, it's..." I hesitated. "The few who have actually activated the bloodline are those who have lost what they treasure most in one blow. It's been to fires, to enemy attacks, to all sorts of things, but they always suffered."

"Suffered?" Yahiko murmured softly. I nodded.

"I don't think I treasure any one thing in my life so highly above the rest to gain it... Konoha, the rest of the Uzushio survivors, the Sannin, even you three... I have too many things I care about to even know what is most precious to me."

"But for Nagato..." Konan's voice drifted off and I shook my head.

"It's not our business to talk about it. You two," I said, looking to Yahiko and Konan. "Your real training begins tomorrow. Get to sleep; you'll need it."

* * *

For three years, we trained those three into the metaphorical (and sometimes literal) ground.

At the end of three years, I had to admit a few things.

First, those three children that had tracked down the Sannin for training knew what they were doing. They were talented, each of them. Yahiko had a physical presence that drew attention to him, forcing you to believe that he could pressure the world into peace. Konan had developed her own style of ninjutsu to compliment her creativity and skill at origami. And, lastly, Nagato was his own breed. Once it was determined that he was an Uzumaki, I wasted no time in forcing him to learning fuinjutsu as another tie to his family. By the end of three years, he was probably only a level four or five apprentice in the art but he knew where to find me or any other Uzumakis if he wanted to continue learning.

The second thing I learned was that I genuinely enjoyed Jiraiya's company. He could make me laugh without fail and I'd been able to see the serious side of him that he generally tried to snuff out. He was kind of sweet once I could ignore his own perverted tendencies, a quirk that I'd tried and failed to beat out of him after the first, second, third, and fourth time I'd caught him peeping.

I was disappointed to note that none of our almost-moments ever lasted to completion but I could almost forgive that, especially when it became clear that Jiraiya wasn't afraid to play the same game and do his best to kick the kids out of the house so 'the adults can talk about adult things'. Granted, I usually hit him for that sort of comment but to each his own.

Our goodbyes to the Ame orphans weren't exceptionally emotional or long. I had allowed Nagato to sign the poison dart frog contract so we would be able to keep in contact and there would always be an invitation for any of the three to come to Konoha (assuming that they got the all-clear from Genki and the Hokage).

"Remember, you three, keep in touch. And don't get yourselves killed. And remember that I'll bully the Hokage into giving you a place in Konoha if things get too rough here," I said, brushing Konan's bangs out of her face. Jiraiya, standing next to me, laughed loudly.

"Now who sounds like a nag?" he asked. I looked up at him warningly.

I still hated that Jiraiya was so much taller than I was. At twenty-three, he was over six feet tall and I, just two years younger than him, was stuck at five foot seven. Sometimes it was nice, like in one of our many almost-moments where I'm happily caught up in a hug and feeling safe and protected for once. On the other hand, it gave him a longer reach in spars that I've paid for a couple of times.

"It's my job to worry," I reminded him sharply. "Konan, make sure you keep those two in line, alright? And if they start following any of your Ero-sensei's tendencies, don't be afraid to beat it out of them."

"Good luck, boys," Jiraiya chuckled as Konan nodded obediently. "Alright, Suki-chan, time to go."

"The jury is still out on that Suki-chan thing, Jiraiya-kun," I said jokingly, grinning when Jiraiya twitched. Even so, I went through the familiar hand seals. "Summoning Technique!"

A small plume of smoke cleared to show one of my poisonous frogs, Kato. Kato was a black and green frog with hallucinogenic toxins as opposed to the normal deadly toxins of my summons. It was dangerous in large doses, yes, but a glancing blow would only cause minor to moderate hallucinations.

"Boss-chan, long time no see," Kato grinned. I smiled back.

"Hello, Kato. It has been a while. You remember Jiraiya, right?"

"Toad-man," Kato nodded, causing Jiraiya to grumble to himself about disrespect.

"Yep. Could you go to Genki and then reverse summon the both of us?"

"But I didn't sign the frog contract," Jiraiya began.

"Toad-baka," Kato grumbled. "Think of frogs, myself included, as the next step up from toads. Suki could probably summon a toad if she used a miniscule amount of chakra because of the basic similarities between us but you wouldn't have a prayer at summoning me and I'm just your average, run of the mill, poison-packed bundle of awesome."

"And humble too," Jiraiya scoffed. I smacked the back of his head before looking to Kato.

"So could you do that for me, Kato-kun? You could stick around and mess with Harimau's kits," I offered, knowing how to get the frog motivated. The idea of messing with the giant tigers put a disconcerting grin on the frog's face.

"You got it, Boss-chan."

Kato vanished much like he appeared: in a smokescreen. I had just enough time to impart one last smile on the Ame orphans before smoke covered my eyes, hiding them from view.

I looked around as the smoke cleared, intending to see Genki sitting at his desk.

I wasn't in Genki's office, though. I wasn't even in the tower.

"Boss-chan..." Kato's voice was rough.

I was in the Konohagakure hospital, standing right next to my twin brother's bed.

* * *

Numb. Overwhelming nothingness.

I sat on a small bed, holding a proportionately small pillow to my chest.

I had no tears left. There was no anger, rage, pain, grief, nothing. There was only the numbness that came from being too late.

I failed. I failed Uzushio. I failed Taeru-sama. I failed Kizu-shishou. All of that he told me about learning from your mistakes; it didn't take as well as I thought it had. I had _failed_ and there was nothing or no one I could blame for it except myself.

I didn't have to stay in Ame. Hell, I didn't have to go to war at all. I could have stayed in the tower, protected our backs from the snakes in the grass, but no. I had to go. I had to leave for the glory of battle, for the selfish ambition of ending a world war single handedly. I had to go out and protect three people so strong that they had 'legendary' in their moniker.

It was my fault and only my fault.

Twenty-six. That was how many people had escaped Uzushio's fall.

Twenty-five. That was how many of us were recognized after Kiana's deceit.

Twenty-two. That was how many of us were left after we began joining the war effort.

Twenty-three. That was how many of us there were including Nagato, my hope that there were others still left out in the world.

Twelve. There were twelve of us left thanks to the actions of one treacherous bastard. One lying little war mongerer. One... One...

There weren't words that meant enough to properly describe Shimura Danzo.

He was supposed to be a trusted ally. He was the Hokage's _teammate_ , for Kami's sake. He and his Root were designed to protect Konoha's assets internationally whenever Konoha couldn't be seen doing the dirty work.

They were not supposed to storm the last refuge of the oldest ally Konoha had left. The Root were not supposed to attack the tower that my people had sheltered in after being thrown, battered and broken, from our own home. Root was not supposed to slaughter innocent and blameless survivors in the name of Konoha's security.

Root was not supposed to murder my _nine year old_ imouto.

Hands. Faces. Colors. Warm. Food. Cold. Water.

Thoughts devolved into sensation as I lost myself to my own guilt.

_You weren't there when she died..._

_You promised her that everything would be okay._

_You promised nothing would happen to her._

_You promised..._

_You lied..._

_You abandoned her._

_You let her die._

_Your fault._

_All your fault._

I couldn't... I couldn't do anything. I didn't _want_ to do anything.

Intellectually, I knew the facts. I'd been briefed on the events that claimed so many of the lives that had already been ruined by war.

A battalion of Root had laid siege to the Tower. Yuriko had been teaching the younger apprentices about warding and protective seals so the first few layers of protection on the tower were weakened, allowing the apprentices to work in peace.

Kushina had been on the second floor with Kiana playing cards. Kiana, even without her chakra, had tried to slow the Root down, trying to buy Kushina enough time to get to a heavier warded area. In the end she died a hero just like her sister before her.

Kushina hadn't made it to the third floor. She was cut down like an animal on the stairs, screaming for help. She, according to the bed stricken Genki, had alerted the rest of the tower to the attack. Instead of cowering in the top levels, the survivors had struck back against the Root forces.

Eleven dead. Kushina, Yuriko, Kiana, and eight others, murdered by the ninja trained to keep Konoha safe. All because Danzo was _uncomfortable_ with Uzushio's presence in Konoha.

Danzo was untouchable. There were no records stating that he'd ordered the attack, no undeniable reason for him to have ordered it, and no captured Root agents to confirm or deny Danzo's involvement. It was a clean massacre.

"Suki." I looked up at the voice but the man was already at my side, sitting down next to me on the messy bed and wrapping an arm around my shoulders. "It's time for dinner."

The Sannin were recalled. Tsunade tended to my injured once more. Orochimaru assisted Genki with the funeral rites. Jiraiya... Jiraiya stayed by my side. It didn't matter what I was doing, he refused to let me out of his or Tsunade's sight for more than just a few minutes.

Jiraiya pulled me to my feet but didn't let me walk on my own. He moved his arm from my shoulders to my waist, supporting me wordlessly.

"I can walk..."

"Yeah, well I can walk better," Jiraiya said with a diminished grin. I tried to smile back at him but the muscles around my mouth refused to obey.

At first, his refusal to let me return to training was infuriating. His stubbornness about making sure I ate made me want to punch him through a wall. His reassurance that it wasn't my fault made me want to break something, preferably him.

It slowly made sense, though.

I was scaring him, and he didn't like it. This wasn't a spar and it wasn't just 'my time of the month'... I was becoming a shell and I knew, but couldn't do anything to stop or change, it.

I was better than I was right after we returned to Konoha, but two weeks was only enough for the worst of the numbness to pass. Jiraiya had yet to let me return to living in the tower, even if I was cleared by the Hokage and Genki.

For the past two weeks, I lived with Jiraiya in his little apartment. Tsunade and Orochimaru were there constantly. They always gave some other excuse, but I knew that they were checking up on me, making sure I hadn't cracked any further.

"Jiraiya, Suki-chan." It was Tsunade tonight. She came up slower than usual, hugging me more carefully than usual. I wanted to scream that I was a kunoichi, not a china doll, but I only smiled tightly in greeting.

"Tsu-chan," I greeted, waiting for the night's excuse. I wondered briefly if she was going to tell me something new about her recently acquired boyfriend, a nice man named Dan that neither Orochimaru or Jiraiya had so far successfully chased of.

"Hope I'm not barging in, but Sarutobi-sensei wanted me to pass on some news. Sarutobi-sensei pushed a new act through the council that banned Danzo's Root and stripped him of his place on the Council."

The news made me freeze. Of course, I was happy to hear that the war mongerer wouldn't be able to do any more damage but I knew what sort of man Shimura Danzo was now. He had lashed out because he feared that Uzushio, even weakened as it was, was stronger than _him_ , not Konoha. Now that he was even weaker, he was that much more dangerous. He wouldn't take this new blow as the punishment it was quietly. He would attack again and it was only a matter of time.

"When was this decided?" I asked as calmly as I could. Tsunade's smile faltered ever so slightly as she studied my face. I wondered how much my eyes were giving away.

"This afternoon. Why?"

"I need to get to the tower. Danzo- He's not the sort of man to take this lying down." I started moving towards the bedroom for my gear but Jiraiya appeared in my path, his face serious.

"Suki-chan, Danzo may be scum but he's not a traitor to the village." Jiraiya's voice was careful but his caution was in vain. He didn't believe me. Judging by Tsunade's silence, neither did she.

"Get out of my way, Jiraiya," I ordered. He didn't budge and I glared up at him. "Get out of the way or I'll make you."

"Suki-chan, you need to-" Jiraiya didn't argue as I pushed passed him but his hand caught my wrist, tightening so I couldn't go any further. Narrowing my eyes, I pulled Jiraiya towards me, knocking him off balance. I sidestepped, slamming him into the wall hard enough that his grip loosened enough for me to twist my wrist free. His head hit the wall and I felt a twinge of worry but I pushed it away. My people needed me.

"If you won't help me, don't. But don't you dare try to stop me," I growled as Tsunade dashed forward to check on her groaning teammate on the floor, eyes worried.

"Suki-chan..." Her voice drifted off as I retrieved my equipment, hesitating for just a moment as my hand ghost over my tanto. It had been a birthday present from Genki. I tightened the sheath about my waist and prepared for battle.

Tsunade said nothing as I left for the tower.

* * *

The forest, which was quickly becoming known as the Forest of Death thanks to the new inhabitants- the summons of Uzushio: giant tigers, poison dart frogs, massive ocelots, serpents- and the increased growth rate of the flora thanks to the proximity to the All Seal, was too quiet as I darted through the trees.

_Am I too-_

I stopped that thought in its tracks. I wasn't here for my people when they needed me the last time. I wasn't going to repeat that mistake.

"Summoning Technique," I murmured softly after running through the hand seals. I was surrounded by a plume of smoke that dissipated to reveal over a dozen frogs, each just larger than my fist.

"Boss-chan." Kato was the first to speak.

"You all know of the attack at the tower." It wasn't a question. That attack had been utterly humiliating for many of the summons, as it had happened within a forest that many of them now resided in. "I'm afraid that enemy is going to attack again tonight. I need each of you to gather as many of your fellow summons and form a defensive perimeter around the tower. Don't forget to include Harimau, Sesha, and Calmecac's kin."

"You heard Boss-chan," Kato barked to the others. "Get to it!"

"Arigatou, Kato-kun," I said softly before turning back towards the tower. "Good luck."

"You too, Boss-chan," Kato replied just as quietly before jumping away. I took off once more, speeding off towards the tower once more. I was nearly there. Just a few more minutes...

 


	13. Chapter 13

I was aware of the presences before I saw them. I skidded in front of the tower, threw my hand against the stone wall, and pulsed my chakra into the warding and protective seals laced into the construction. The stone under my hand began to glow a vibrant blue that, as I pushed more chakra into it, spread into the surrounding stone.

"Turn back. You won't get into this tower under my watch," I said, feeling much braver than I felt. The fluttering of fear vanished quickly as an uneven gait, footsteps accented with a cane, sounded softly in my ears. Overpowering anger flooded my system as _he_ appeared out of the shadows. A smirk was on his face as if he'd already won.

"As if you can prevent this, _girl_."

"I already have." I pulled my hand away from the tower's exterior wall. Even if I didn't survive this battle- and there would be a battle- Danzo could not get into the tower. Only an Uzumaki's blood would unlock those security seals now. "Take your shinobi and leave."

"I'm afraid I can't do that."

"Then we are at an impasse," I said, barely restraining my anger. Danzo, much calmer on the surface than I was, only tapped his cane against the ground, his smirk growing ever so slightly as the shadows around him shifted.

I barely had time to prepare myself before I was on the receiving end of a rather vicious attack against two, three, four Root ANBU that moved so quickly and in sync that I had difficulty keeping them separate. After fighting on the front lines of a war and three consecutive years of sparring almost daily with one of the Sannin, however, I was no slouch with close quarters combat.

I dodged a roundhouse kick, ducking close to the ground before one of the Root could follow through with a haymaker of a punch that would have slammed into my shoulder. I drew a trio of kunai, throwing them towards the Root to buy me enough time to draw my tanto. The Root were ANBU level nin for a reason, however, and I barely had time to draw my blade before one of the ninja, having the same idea I did, pressed forward with his own kenjutsu assault using an ANBU standard issue tanto. Our blades clashed in a flurry of sparks.

As our blades met, I grabbed the wrist of my opponent and pulled him towards me, knocking him off balance just as I had pulled Jiraiya, and into the path of one of his comrade's kunai. The kunai was not enough to kill him, but it surprised him enough that I could free my tanto and slip it between his ribs.

The other two were not pausing to consider their comrade's safety or life as both jumped backed, raining a volley of kunai on me and the quickly dying Root agent in my grip. I ducked beneath the agent, using him as a shield from the kunai, and, when the assault finished, threw him in the direction of the other two operatives, sheathing my tanto long enough to form a trio of hand seals.

"Wind Release: Vacuum Sphere!" I took a deep breath before launching a series of compressed air bullets towards the remaining pair of Root ninjas. One of the two was hit directly by the attack, body jerking as the bullets tore into his flesh, and fell to the ground still but the other was lucky, or perhaps unlucky, enough to have escaped the attack with his life. One of the spheres had struck him in the right shoulder, though, ripping through tendons and muscle so that the arm was completely useless, almost torn free. The Root was still moving despite the heavy blood loss and he drew another kunai, unable to make hand seals. I wasn't letting him go for a counterattack, however. I drew another kunai, coating it in wind natured chakra, and launched it towards him. Unable to deflect or dodge in time, the agent was helpless to avoid the kunai as it ran through his chest, slicing through a tree before safely burying itself deep into a second tree. The Root operative, with a hole larger than my fist just above his sternum, sank to the ground, joining his comrades in death.

I wasn't given long to rest from the assault, however. The quiet tapping of a cane rang out across the clearing and five fresh agents came forward to attack, causing me to clench my fists.

"So this is your plan?" I said scathingly, dodging a tanto slash as one of the new operatives decided to try his hand. "Wear me down with your cannon fodder? I didn't peg you for a _coward_!"

Slash. Kick. Dodge. Breath in. Exhale. Punch. Flood. The battle became a complex rhythm and, though I hated to admit it, by the fourth or fifth round, I was tiring. I could conserve as much chakra as I liked; that didn't matter if I strained my muscles. The constant attacks sapped my strength and shortened my breath even if I bore no serious injuries. If this continued... I wasn't going to win.

With a frustrated growl and a chakra enhanced fist, I punched the last operative away from me, sending him through the trees with what was hopefully enough internal bleeding to keep him down. The attack left me panting, half bent over as my lungs screamed for oxygen, and I was almost grateful when I didn't hear the clicking cane to signify another round.

I belatedly realized that there wasn't another round of Root because the clearing around me was strewn with dozens of bodies. There had to be fifty or sixty shinobi on the ground or pinned to trees, dead or so mortally wounded they couldn't have a prayer of attacking.

I had been in some terrible battles before, mind you, but this was on another level of bad. This time, my enemy was more yet less nameless. These shinobi had been, despite Root's shady nature, Konoha nin. They were loyal to Danzo, yes, but that hadn't been their fault or even their choice. Trained from young ages, they'd been brainwashed and tricked into betraying their own nature. They may have been my enemies, but none of them deserved to die, even if it was the kinder alternative.

"Shimura Danzo... You are the worst kind of monster." I was bathed in the blood of his followers, but he was as well. I didn't order any of these men and women to die for my desires, he did. "You won't mourn any of them."

"A broken tool is exactly that." Danzo's voice was calm and collected as his back straightened. The cane fell to the ground and I tensed. "She could have been a beautiful tool, don't you think?"

Understanding rushed through me, followed quickly by a tsunami of renewed rage. I couldn't think of a witty one liner to throw back at the war hawk. I only drew my tanto once more, using Wind Release: Vacuum Blade to extend the tanto's edge. Danzo reached for a kunai but I was already in front of him, slashing out. Anger fueled my tired muscles and instinct reigned my movements as I found myself in a deadly dance with the elder.

If getting in a fight with Hanzo of the Salamander was a poor decision, fighting Shimura Danzo was quite possibly the worst decision I'd made in my life. I knew going into the battle that I wasn't going to walk away from this but that didn't matter. I locked him out of the tower and brought down as many Root shinobi as he had brought. If that wasn't a good thing to die for, what was?

Yes, I was going to die here but that wasn't bad. If the last thing I did was to take out a manipulative bastard like Danzo, then I could join Kushina, Yuriko, Kizu-sensei, and the others in the afterlife in peace. Genki would be able to handle my funeral rites admirably, and I knew he would be a good leader even without me looking over his shoulder.

Breathing deeply, I clutched my wounded thigh. I was bleeding heavily, not enough to be in serious danger, but the injury slowed me and reduced reflexes _did_ put me in increased danger. Still, I had a firm grip on my tanto and, when Danzo came forward to press his momentary advantage, I was able to slash the blade upward and strike him across the face. I felt more satisfaction at seeing his ruined right eye than I probably should have but I didn't care as black flitted at the edges of my vision.

_I must have lost more blood than I'd thought..._

_It was a shame... Danzo's going to recover from this... Well... At least the others are safe._

Content with that little but big victory, I smiled as the dark seized me. I let it consume me, welcoming it with open arms.

* * *

I walked through the pristine streets of Uzushio, half startled at the silence and emptiness that almost resonated throughout my home but at peace. The silence didn't feel dead to me. It felt reverent somehow, respectful and proud.

I realized that I was leaving the village, the All Seal's beautiful temple quickly nearing. As opposed to the quiet darkness of the village, the temple was alive with energy and people. Colors wove around the temple, signifying each and every seal that had ever been conceived within the marble walls, and happy shadows flitted between the columns. A laugh escaped my mouth as I approached and familiar figures bustled out of the crowded temple to meet me.

I knew at once why I was so happy and content here as I recognized those around me. I saw the faces of the dead yet they were so happy, why should I be sad? I knew I lived as good a life as I could and, even if it wasn't very long, I was a damn good ninja and the leader my people needed me to be.

"I'm so proud of you." Arms wrapped around me as I allowed myself to truly relax.

"Kizu-shishou," I said, his name containing none of the grief, worry, stress, and fear that had been plaguing me since his death. I was only content, free from the cares of the living world.

"Suki-nee!"

"Amai-chan!" I felt so close to tears as I was pulled from Kizu's embrace by a ball of energy that all but tackled me to the ground. I knew that I was still sad and angry about her death but how could I cling to those feelings? We were together again.

More faces. More feelings.

The negativity of my life all seemed to drip away from me. With every embrace, every smile, and every step I took towards the All Seal's chamber, the cares of my life fell away. When I found myself staring at a familiar wizened face across from the All Seal, I felt so utterly free that I was sure I would start to fly.

"Taeru-sama," I bowed, still unable to keep the smile from my face. The old leader was smiling back at me, happy, but there was a sad light in his eyes. All of my worries and stress came crashing back to me and I felt close to tears as all of my burdens and failures pressed against me, robbing my lungs of air. How could I have been so happy? I failed so many people! Everyone around me now, looking so happy and pleased in their death- they needn't have died! And everyone I left behind, how would they move forward? Danzo was still alive and none of them, even Genki, could hold a candle to him! They were still in so much danger while I was safely beyond his taint.

"So much conflict swirls within you, child." Taeru's voice was as somber as his eyes, betraying that smile still on his lips. "Rest, but don't tarry. Your work still lies unfinished."

"Unfinished? But, Taeru-sama, I died. Shimura Danzo- He-"

"Your time hasn't yet come." Taeru's voice was patient but stern as if he were scolding a young child. I wondered if that was all I was to him, a child in need of guidance. "One day you will return here but you cannot stay. You are needed in our flawed world still, Umi Ryokou."

"I don't understand, Taeru-sama. I-" My voice caught in my throat as green light from the All Seal began to pulse and stretch. The light crept around my ankles, latching onto me hungrily and slowing encroaching up my legs, then my torso, jumping to my fingertips and working its way up my arms. "I'm not- I'm not ready!"

"One day, child... For now, _live_."

Green light clouded over my vision, blinding me. When the darkness left, I was screaming.

* * *

One of the first things I noticed after ANBU orderlies had me restrained and a medic nin came into drug me into a drowsy stupor was that I wasn't in the normal Konoha hospital. If I was correct, I was in the ANBU medical ward, an area reserved only for active duty ANBU or prisoners from Torture and Interrogation on days when the interrogator took it a little too far with the physical. Civilian doctors couldn't generally stomach such violent tortures so most prisoner treatment was handled by ANBU. I wasn't an ANBU, though. Did that mean I was a prisoner?

After the stupor abated some, I recognized enough of my surroundings to have the truth firmly cemented in my mind. I _was_ a prisoner and a very high ranking one judging by my four guard minimum whenever the medics came in and checked on me. Once they realized that I was conscious and _not_ out to kill them all, I was transferred from a maximum security cell to a slightly more lax environment due to my status as the former leader of Uzushiogakure. That counted for something apparently.

I didn't find out what I was being imprisoned for until several days later when, in one of the few times I was allowed to be fully cognitive, Genki visited with less than pleasant news. I was going to be released from ANBU's care long enough to be escorted to the Council chambers where a trial would be held.

I was being tried for attempted murder of a Konoha elder.

I could almost see the newspaper headlines: **_UMI RYOKOU ATTACKS LEGEND_** , **_UZUSHIO TARGETS ELDERS_** , or **_UZUSHIO SURVIVOR FINALLY CRACKS_**. I was being slandered and I couldn't do a thing about it. Genki and the others were also under political fire from civilians and shinobi alike of Konoha. Even the young sealing corps was suffering under public prejudice.

No one seemed to question why Danzo had been in the Forest of Death to begin with. No one cared to consult Genki on why the tower's wards were set to maximum security. And just as many people carefully ignored the dozens of bodies quietly being burned just outside of Konoha.

No. I was simply a kunoichi who had gone insane after the death of her little sister and targeted a defenseless, old, not to mention 'crippled' village elder. I was the villain of the story now, the new reason why shinobi shouldn't be trained so young.

* * *

"Please state your name and any titles or aliases for the record." I stared blankly at the lawyer. It was ridiculous, at least in my opinion, to have a civilian lawyer try a shinobi case. A civilian can't know the pressures of a shinobi life; they shouldn't endeavor to judge it.

"Suki Uzumaki, Umi Ryokou, Twenty-eighth Leader of Uzushiogakure, Founder of the Konohagakure Sealing Corps."

"Very good... Now, Uzumaki-san, you have some very serious allegations against you, do you not?"

"I do."

"And, before we begin, is there anything you would like to say?" The lawyer's eyes dared me to speak and I had to remind myself to mind my tongue.

"Yes... Everything I've done since the destruction of Uzushiogakure has been in the service of my people or Konohagakure. This village has been my home, even if I haven't always been here due to the war, for over four years now. I have never and would never betray it."

And the trial began.

I wasn't the first person to take the stand in my defense. Genki had spoken briefly, most of the Uzushio survivors, and a number of Konoha shinobi that I had fought alongside during the battle. I wished that I had a camera to record the sour faces of the councillors when the White Fang and each of the Sannin went up to testify for me.

Still, none of that truly prepared me for the inevitable question. The lawyer who was defending me, Sadao something, was the first to ask. He had told me in no uncertain terms that if the prosecution got to me first, there was no way I was walking free.

"Uzumaki-san, please relay to the jury the events of the night in question."

"It had been two weeks since the attack at the Uzumaki Tower. After hearing of the casualties, my young sister included, I had... collapsed within myself. I was living with Jiraiya, who was afraid of what might happen if I returned to the tower... On the night in question, Tsunade had come over, as per her usual habit, both to check in on me and to tell Jiraiya and I the news that the ANBU branch that had carried out the attack on the Uzumaki Tower known as Root was officially disbanded and that Shimura Danzo, who had been the organization's head, was to be removed from office."

"And how did you react after hearing such news? Surely you were ecstatic."

"I should have been... But I was afraid. Shimura Danzo ordered the first attack on Uzumaki Tower due to the growing influence of Uzushio's survivors and my brother, Genki, which threatened his own power within Konoha. If he had felt threatened when he still had full control, I knew it would only be worse when he had virtually none."

"So what did you do?"

"I left Jiraiya's apartment alone and went to the Forest of Death, in which the Uzumaki Tower is located. Once I was within the grounds, I summoned a dozen frogs and relayed an order to them to gather the other summons within the forest to form a defensive perimeter around the tower."

"So you went to the tower, preparing to defend your people?"

"Yes."

"And if Shimura Danzo had not appeared at the tower?"

"I guess I would have returned to Jiraiya's apartment feeling rather foolish."

"So you are saying that you would not have sought Shimura-san out? You acted only in defense of your people?"

"I failed to protect my people when the tower was first attacked. I was not going to make that mistake again."

"Uzumaki-san, please continue in your retelling of events."

"After I arrived at the tower, I activated the warding and protective seals laced through the building, setting the tower into lock down. My first priority was to ensure that no one could get into the tower and the blood seals woven into the defensive protocols were the fastest way to accomplish that."

"For the jury, could you explain how a blood seal works?"

"It's a form of protective seal. When activated across a door, the door will remain locked as if deadbolted until blood from the proper line is introduced onto the sealing array. If blood from an incompatible line is introduced, the more advanced blood seals will contaminate the foreign blood with a poison- generally a nerve agent- in defense. The seals on the tower, for example, introduce a tetrodotoxin common to poison dart frogs, as they are an ancestral summons of the Uzumaki clan."

"Thank you. Let it be noted that Uzumaki Suki is a notable sealing master with over fifteen years dedicated to the practice of fuinjutsu and sealers Uzumaki Genki-sama and Jiraiya of the Sannin have provided their own testimony regarding the use of blood seals. Continue."

"Just as I activated the seals guarding the tower, I felt a number of presences moving within the shadows of the forest. As a warning, I called out that no one would be able to enter the tower under my watch."

"And then?"

"Elder Shimura Danzo stepped from the shadows."

"And how did you recognize him?"

"At first I only heard his footsteps. His gait is unique, accented heavily by his cane. He stepped closer until I could clearly make him out."

"And could you point him out in the courtroom?" I did so and the lawyer nodded for me to continue.

"He said that there was nothing I could do to prevent what was happening and I said that I already had. I warned him to leave and take his shinobi, who were still waiting just outside of sight, with him but he refused."

"And did you attack?"

"No. Danzo tapped his cane against the ground and three Root operatives stepped out of the tree line to attack me. I defended myself."

"And did you kill them?"

"It is in the conditioning of ANBU Root to never accept surrender or defeat. Unless dead or completely immobilized, no Root would abandon a target and I didn't have the time or tools needed to immobilize any Root operative for any longer than a few minutes. So yes, I did kill the three operatives after they moved to kill me."

"And what happened after you dispatched the first three operatives?"

"Danzo tapped the ground with his cane once more and five new operatives came forward to attack. I defended myself again. And I called Danzo a coward for sending his men in to fight me for him."

"Why did you verbally abuse the elder?" Sadao asked.

"ANBU are designed to defend the village against international threats. I may be listed as a shinobi of Uzushiogakure but I was and am not a threat to Konoha. Again, this village has been my home for years now."

"Very good. Carry on."

"I don't recall the exact number of times it happened but each time I finished off a round of Root operatives, each group numbering from three to six, Danzo would call in another group by tapping his cane. Eventually, there were no other operatives to call and Danzo and I were left alone... Once more, I insulted Danzo for ordering his operatives forward knowing that it was more than likely that they would die in their attempts to subdue me."

"Do you recall your exact words?" I did.

"I said that he was the worst kind of monster because he wouldn't mourn any of them."

"And Danzo's response?"

"... He looked to the bodies around me and said, 'A broken tool is exactly that.'"

The lawyer looked at me for a long moment before looking up at the judge, apparently satisfied.

"Your honor, the defense rests." Sadao took his seat and the judge looked to the prosecutor.

"Prosecution, the witness is yours to cross examine."

"Thank you, your honor." The prosecuting lawyer was only a few years old than I was, with a spring in his step that Sadao lacked. The lawyer was charismatic and charisma beats circumstantial evidence for a jury of councillors. Unfortunately for him, I knew how to play his game. I was a political figure _and_ a ninja; I knew deception and misdirection better than anyone. "Uzumaki-san, how are you feeling?"

"Well enough considering that I'm being tried for attempted murder," I said dryly. The lawyer chuckled.

"An odd thing for a ninja of your experience to be tried for, isn't it? You are listed in the Bingo Book, after all. Do you recall what ranking you are given?"

"The last time I checked, I was A ranked."

"Then allow me the honor of informing you that Ame's Hanzo of the Salamander must have taken a shine to you." The lawyer held up a Bingo Book. "This, ladies and gentlemen, is the latest issue of the Bingo Book and it lists the Umi Ryokou as an S ranked kunoichi. Extremely dangerous, just under Kage level even."

"I was the leader of a village, no matter how small. I couldn't effectively do my job by being weak or lazy. Your Sandaime Hokage is known for his expertise and skill."

"He is indeed... But you are _strong_ , especially for your age. Only twenty-one yet on par with some of the very best and brightest... It must be difficult. It was, wasn't it?"

"I have a twin brother, sir. My life was always difficult," I said as seriously as I could manage. "But no. I had a close relationship with my shishou, Uzumaki Kizu, and he was of the opinion that I always needed to be taken down a notch. He taught me that strength doesn't create pride, insecurity does."

"But don't we all have even a touch of insecurity? Even you, S ranked as you are, don't you have your doubts?"

"The only doubts I had have since disappeared."

"Pray tell."

"I doubted my abilities to be a teacher. Jiraiya and a trio of war orphans have shown me that I can do more than kill. When I was younger, I doubted whether I could ever live up to my clan's hopes. I have since led my people eighty miles across the ocean under fear of capture and safely got them to Konoha. I have doubted whether or not I would be content with myself when I died-"

"How could that doubt be resolved?" the lawyer interrupted. I smiled.

"A near death experience such as the one I have just recovered from can teach a person a lot about themselves and the world around them. I don't fear death, so long as my death is in the service of those I love. If it is, then I will be content with myself."

"Honorable of you... So you say that you have no doubts, no insecurities, and no pride?"

"I _have_ pride. I have pride in my people and my friends. I don't think I am proud, though," I clarified. The lawyer smiled goodnaturedly.

"My mistake. So you _have_ pride in, as you say, your people and your friends. It is not that far a leap to say, then, that you feel angry when your pride is threatened? When your people and your friends are threatened?"

"Have you seen a mother bear defend her cub, sir? It is natural to feel defensive when what one holds precious is threatened. If someone threatens my people, who have already seen so much death and hardship, I will protect them."

"So you went to the Uzumaki Tower that night to protect your people, to defend your pride?"

"I went to the Uzumaki Tower to ensure that no harm came to my people. As I went there, I knew that there was a chance that there was no enemy to defend them from but I was not willing to take that chance."

"And how did your friends, Jiraiya and Tsunade of the Sannin, react to your plan of defense?" The word defense was said delicately, almost sneeringly. I had to be careful with my words.

"They were not in favor of it. Both Tsunade and Jiraiya believed that I was still too delicate after the last attack to even go near the tower once more."

"And how did you respond when they tried to talk you out of it?"

"I continued past them, gathered my equipment, and left."

"Is it or is it not true that, during your exit, you struck Jiraiya of the Sannin? After he clearly stated that you shouldn't go to the tower?"

"I did not strike him. He grabbed my wrist and I miscalculated when I went to break his hold. I would also like to state that Jiraiya is a high A, low S ranked ninja himself. If he had truly wanted to keep me at the apartment, both he and Tsunade were more than able to do so."

"Ah, but didn't they think you were delicate, as you put it? After the death of your sister, the hospitalization of your brother... Didn't that hurt?"

"She was not my sister. She was my daughter. I raised her after her parents died. I was the one to introduce her to Yuriko-san, who was her shishou and also died in the attack. So yes, it _hurt_."

"Forgive me... Didn't the death of your daughter make you angry, Uzumaki-san? If a mother bear will defend her cub with her life, what will the mother bear do if her cub is snatched away from her? And that is just one cub... How many, Uzumaki-san, died in the attack?"

"Eleven."

" _Eleven_. So it is reasonable to assume that mama bear was angry?"

"I was, but not necessarily at Root or Shimura Danzo," I replied calmly. That threw the prosecutor for a loop.

"So who _were_ you angry at?"

Newbie mistake. I hardly knew anything about law but even I know that a lawyer shouldn't ask anything he doesn't already know the answer to. He couldn't know who I was angry at simply because _I_ hadn't told anyone.

"I was angry at myself. I wasn't their leader anymore but still I had failed my people. I invested my time outside of Konoha, fighting in the war and helping as I could, while my people carried on with their issues here. I was angry that I didn't get to see Kushina off to the Academy. I was angry that I couldn't thank Yuriko again for my mastery tattoo. I was angry that I couldn't tell Kiana that Shansa, her sister, would have been proud. I was angry because of all the little and brilliant things I'd missed while I was off playing hero."

"And who took those things from you?" The lawyer was trying to find traction but I wouldn't let him.

"Hate, fear, and misunderstanding."

"Uzumaki-san, answer the question."

"I did. Shimura Danzo's actions were only the product of hate, fear, and misunderstanding. If I had spoken to him more directly about Uzushio's presence in Konoha, he needn't have feared us. Without fear, he wouldn't have grown to hate us. Without hate, there would have been no initial attack and my amai-chan would be dragging me to the park to meet her new friends."

Sadao was doing a victory dance in his seat.


	14. Chapter 14

I grimaced at the newspaper. I had been off about the headlines but that didn't make them easier to stomach.

**UZUSHIO PRINCESS CLEARED OF ALL CHARGES**

**ELDER SHIMURA DANZO: FRIEND OR FOE**

**THE TRUTH OF NE**

I couldn't stand it. People were making money over the fact that I had been two votes away from being beheaded. Even now, after being cleared of attempted murder, my situation wasn't safe. Danzo was still out there and still a threat. I didn't believe for one second that he had put all of his eggs in one basket when he went to the tower that night. There were still Root operatives floating around, waiting for the order and the opportunity to strike. Even more pressing than that was my most recent summons to the council chambers.

I lowered the paper as a secretary, one I didn't recognize, came in. She bowed to me politely.

"The Council will see you now, Uzumaki-sama."

"Thanks." Took them long enough.

I stepped into the chambers, expecting only a dozen or so people. I hadn't expected everyone and their brother to come in. I was met with the full Council; shinobi, civilians, and elders alike all sat together, ready to judge me for something new. The only thing that was clearly in my favor was that Shimura Danzo was still on probation pending a thorough investigation and psyche evaluation, which was now supposed to be routine for him and the other elders in case they got ideas on how the village's domestic affairs should be handled.

"Uzumaki Suki. Take a seat." It wasn't a suggestion from but I remained standing, my eyes locked on the Hokage. I was not going to take an order from the likes of Nakano Shou, a civilian merchant.

"Suki-san, please sit," the Hokage said quietly. Something within me clenched with dread. Whatever I had been summoned here for, it was nothing pleasant. The Hokage looked more exhausted than I'd ever seen and the bravado he still sported was thinning quickly. Obeying, I took a seat at the center of the room where Karibi Kiana had sat for judgment so long ago.

"Uzumaki Suki, are you aware of the political repercussions of your attack on Elder Shimura Danzo?"

"Repercussions? Councillor, all charges were dropped."

"The charges of attempted murder were dropped," Nakano said with a cruel grin. "The attack on the elder cannot, however, be ignored. To neglect such an important happenstance within our village would be remiss of this council."

"Then no, I am not aware of the political repercussions of my actions in self-defense," I said, trying to keep my growing exasperation out of my voice. I can only assume I did not fully succeed.

"Your attack on a Konoha Elder, Uzumaki-san, is an act of war against Konohagakure. Such an act, when our village is already so heavily invested in a war on our borders, cannot be ignored. Konoha cannot afford to fight a war on two fronts, internationally and domestically."

"And act of war?" I repeated angrily. I wasn't just angry. I was outraged at the insinuations this man was throwing upon me. "Councillor, if any act of war was put forth, it was from your village onto mine. Elder Shimura Danzo had no right and no provocation to initiate an assault against a nation, broken and battered, that had sought out asylum within your walls. Uzushio was and is no threat to Konoha but Konoha has been dancing the line between friend and foe for many weeks now."

"Is that a threat?"

"A promise," I corrected. "The Konoha Sealing Corps may be named as yours, but its shinobi are genin and chuunin of Uzushiogakure as per the treaty I created with the Sandaime Hokage. Should Konoha prove to be a threat to my people, I will strongly suggest that all Uzushio citizens leave the once-safe walls of this village for the unknown where we would at least know to be cautious of a knife in our backs."

"Those shinobi are Konoha-born," Nakano growled.

"And they are Uzushio-trained," I shot back. "They owe their loyalty to their masters."

"You would have Konoha natives abandon their land?"

"If it guaranteed their safety from scum such as Shimura Danzo, gladly!" I yelled. A woman stood up, one I only vaguely recognized. She was the daughter of a lesser nobleman who had moved to Konoha some time ago. It had been her family's wealth to buy her a seat on the council.

"Enough!" she called. Maruyama Kotone was her name. She turned to me, eyes narrowed and fists clenched. "This is the sort of behavior that has forced our hand! Uzumaki Suki, in response to your actions against Elder Shimura Danzo and Konohagakure, you are hereby stripped of your right to safe asylum within this village. By the power vested in this Council by order of the Daimyo of Fire, you are no longer entitled to call this village home under pain of death."

"You're..." I was floored by the announcement. "You're banishing me? After all I've done?!"

"You've done quite enough, Uzumaki-san," Kotone said coldly, sitting back down. I looked to the shinobi side of the council. No one would meet my eyes. The Elders, aside from Danzo of course, were looking down at me with a haughty sneer. The civilians all looked rather content with themselves as if I was another enemy gone.

An enemy... That's what they saw me as.

"As per your banishment, you are stripped of any claim to a position in Konohagakure's shinobi roster. Return your hitai-ate before sunset and leave the village. If you are found within the village by tomorrow morning, ANBU will personally escort you out. If you return, you will be returned to the ANBU cells for processing."

Processing. That was the civilian term for 'tortured for all you were worth and violently killed when you ceased being useful.'

"Also, you are forbidden contact with any active duty shinobi of-"

The door flew open.

"What the hell is going on here?"

I wasn't sure if I should feel proud or ashamed as the one of the Sannin appeared in the doorway. An angry scowl was on his face and his eyes threatened pain.

"Hokage-sama, did you alert your student to this meeting?" Nakano asked sharply. The Hokage glared half-heartedly at his students before responding.

"I did not, Councillor, but, had I chosen to do so, that would have been my prerogative alone." Even I recognized the hidden know your place message. Nakano blanched, quieting immediately as Jiraiya stepped forward.

"What is going on here?" he repeated, staring directly at his former sensei.

"Jiraiya..." I didn't realize I was speaking until his head snapped to me. "Their decision has been made... I can't stay."

"Fuck that!" he roared. He glared towards the civilian side of the council, knowing without being told who had initiated this entire ordeal. "She's staying."

"Jiraiya-sama, Uzumaki-san has proven herself to be a danger to Konoha and its residents. It is not safe for our civilians for her to remain in the village." Kotone was the first to recover. "She is, as decreed by this council, banished from Konohagakure."

"Then I'm leaving too!"

My heart skipped a painful beat as Jiraiya's words washed over the room. Jiraiya, as if to cement his statement, joined me in the center of the room, separating himself from the councillors.

He means that. He can't mean that! Jiraiya, what are you saying?! Don't-

"No!" The word tumbled from my lips as panic welled up in my chest. Jiraiya turned to me, his eyes hurt but his body language still resonating righteous anger. I could see the questions burning in his eyes but I couldn't respond as a heavy weight pressed against my heart and lungs.

This is his home! Konoha means everything to Jiraiya. I can't- I won't let him abandon that! Not for me...

For me...? He'd be willing to do this... to leave everything and everyone he's known and loved... for me? Why? Why would he do that?

I was helpless to stop my shoulders from shaking as unwanted tears began welling in my eyes.

I couldn't let Jiraiya do this. I wouldn't let him do this. I... I...-

"Jiraiya..." My voice cracked and I swallowed, pushing past the lump rising in my throat. "Konoha is your home. I can't let you abandon that. Not for me."

"Konoha's not my home if they kick you out," Jiraiya insisted. Our eyes met and, in that instant, I understood the rising panic I felt. I understood my shaking shoulders and my unwanted tears. I understood the unsteady beating of my heart, the pressure against my lungs.

This was our moment. For once, there were no Ame orphans to break us apart. This was how the story was going to end, with me finally having a name to everything I'd ever felt towards that goofball of a man.

I loved him. I loved him so much that I wanted to hit him for putting me in this position. I loved him so much that some part of me wanted to be selfish and tell him to come with me. I wanted to be by his side, fighting alongside him for what we believed in. I wanted to be with him. I wanted him to be with me.

"Don't say that," I murmured softly. I wanted to slip my hand in his, to be pulled into his arms, but I couldn't. "I lost my home, Jiraiya-kun... I can't let you just abandon yours, not when they need you most."

"Suki-chan..."

I tore my eyes away from Jiraiya to look at the Hokage.

"Hokage-sama... I will leave Konoha willingly. I just... I need some time to get my affairs in order."

"Of course," he said with a sad nod. I looked to Jiraiya but couldn't meet his eyes. His hands shook at his sides and a nauseating wave of guilt washed over me.

"Will you help me?"

"Always," he promised.

"... We've been through a lot together, haven't we?"

Sitting with the people who had been my family and friends for the past five years of my life, I was at a loss for words. Tsunade, Orochimaru, Hatake Sakumo, and a dozen other Konoha shinobi sat alongside the Sealing Corps and what remained of the original Uzushio survivors.

Swallowing, I pressed on.

"I gathered you all here to say that I'm leaving."

"Suki-" Genki and a number of others moved to interrupt me but he quieted at a sharp glance from Jiraiya. I smiled gratefully at the Toad Sannin.

"The Konoha Council has taken it upon themselves to decide that I, thanks to Shimura Danzo, am a risk to Konoha. As such, I'm no longer entitled to asylum within this village."

"That's ridiculous!" Tsunade cried out. "Without you, most of us here would be dead by now, myself included!"

"Thanks, Tsu-chan," I smiled softly. "But that doesn't change the verdict. I have been given the day to put my affairs in order. After that, I'm forbidden to return. I just thought that I should tell you all personally before... Well, just before."

Jiraiya wrapped an arm around my shoulders, bringing me close to the warmth of his side. I leaned into the half-hug, grateful for the contact. Tsunade watched us with an appraising and cautious eye but I didn't care anymore.

"The All Seal," Genki said suddenly, breaking the silence. I looked at him with a frown. "The All Seal, according to the treaty, is supposed to remain in the care of Uzushio's leader."

"Which is you," I reminded him. He shook his head with a sad frown, tapping his hitai-ate. Like nearly all of the others, he had replaced his Uzushio hitai-ate for a Konoha hitai-ate once he started working in the field or, in his case, running the Sealing Corps. He still kept his Uzushio hitai-ate for his duties as leader and for safe keeping until his inevitable funeral rites but, for all intents and purposes-

"I'm registered as a reserve in Konoha's forces. You're the only one out of all of us who never registered as a Konoha nin. You're the only Uzushio nin still active so, technically, you're by default the leader."

"The Sealing Corps-"

"Are listed secondarily as reserve Konoha nin. They'll never be able to fully forsake that, either, thanks to Konoha's citizenship laws. They'll be Konoha nin despite their loyalties and trainings, as loathe as I am to admit it."

"I'm surprised you know the word 'loathe,'" I chuckled to my twin who scowled briefly at me.

"Take the All Seal when you go... We may lose its blessing here, but any village that is willing to part with you doesn't deserve it. The Forest of Death has grown enough these last five years, after all. It will support our summons until they choose to leave."

The All Seal's blessing would never truly leave those already blessed by it, but I feared for the next generation of Uzushio-trained sealers. Without the natal blessing, they'd be weaker than the generation before them and-

"We'll establish a rendezvous with you for any natal blessings. The Council can't argue with a family going on vacation, now can they?"

"I suppose they can't," I smirked. The humor quickly faded as the growing shadows caught my attention. The sun was nearly at the horizon. It was time.

At the gate, I was almost completely alone. Once more, the All Seal's large scroll was slung across my back. My tanto was at home just above it and I was dressed in a more simple dark green tank top and black mini skirt, covered neatly by a long dark trench coat. I was dressed for travel.

The only one standing beside me was Jiraiya and I was glad for the privacy. I wanted one moment- just one- before I had to leave.

"Where will you go?" he asked softly. I brushed my bangs out of my face, buying time as I searched for an answer. He caught my hand and didn't let go.

"Suna's nice this time of year, isn't it?" I asked jokingly. Jiraiya, for once, didn't laugh. "I guess I'll go back to Uzu no Kuni... I promised when we first left that we would return one day to retake our homeland. Now is as good as any day to see if there is anything worth salvaging."

"Uzushio was obliterated, Suki-chan. The work it'll take to get even the infrastructure back to speed..." Jiraiya's voice drifted off and I smiled sadly.

"I will have plenty of time on my hands... And I'm an Uzumaki. If there is anything to be done, I will find a way. Believe it." I chuckled at the phrase as Jiraiya looked at me oddly. "Something Genki used to say when we were kids..."

"I'll make sure to make fun of him for that later," Jiraiya murmured. I nodded absently, before pulling my hand away from Jiraiya's. Before he could begin to protest, I reached behind my neck and carefully untied my Uzushio hitai-ate from my neck. I stared at it for a long moment before grabbing one of Jiraiya's hands, placing the headband onto his palm and closing his fingers around it gently.

"Keep it safe for me, alright?"

"Suki-chan... Your traditions..." Jiraiya knew of Uzushio's funeral rites by now. He'd seen and helped with so many ceremonial burnings that he could perform them himself if needed. He knew that my rites couldn't be completed without the seal sewn into the lining of my hitai-ate but I wasn't going to take the headband back.

"Keep it safe for me," I repeated. Jiraiya, after a long hesitation, nodded and carefully tucked the hitai-ate away into his kunai holster where it would be protected.

"Always," he promised. Smiling, I allowed myself to close my eyes and relax, if only a little.

I was leaving. I knew that, just as he did.

"Jiraiya, I-"

I was silenced as the taller man suddenly stepped closer to me, arms slipping around my waist and a calloused hand carefully holding my face as his lips met mine in a tentative kiss. I tried my hardest to ignore that I would have to soon say goodbye and I returned the kiss with as much love and care as I could pour into it. The kiss deepened, growing hungrier and more desperate, and other emotions began forcing themselves into the kiss. There was lust, there was anger, there was despair, but there was an unwavering undercurrent of love that remained as the kiss gentled and ended.

I stayed in Jiraiya's embrace, quite content to never let go, but we both knew how the story would end for now. We may write it with every action we do or word we say but two undeniable truths remained.

I was leaving, but this was not goodbye.


	15. Chapter 15

Wandering the streets of Uzushio, I couldn't help but recall my brief glimpse into the afterlife. These streets I saw now were broken and scarred, yes, but I could still clearly picture the village as whole and lively so, in a way, was it truly lost?

With a contemplative hum, my hands formed a familiar seal.

"Multiple Shadow Clone Technique!"

I once vowed that Uzushio would be reborn from the ashes.

I never broke a vow.

Reconstruction of Uzushio was slow going and lonely work. I had the company of my summons and the other animals who had not left the island after the invasion but, for the years it took for me to build a new home for my once-people, I had only myself to truly talk to. Despite the solitude, or perhaps because of it, the work on Uzushiogakure was completed- though not polished or perfected- in a narrower time frame than I had expected. By the time whispers of the war had ended, four years after my banishment, Uzushio stood once more.

I couldn't stay in Uzu no Kuni, though. The ghosts of the village were much harder to avoid or placate when the village seemed all but untouched by war or the siege that had been laid upon it. As such, less then a week after construction was done I packed up my scarce belongs and left once more for the inhabited world.

The world hadn't changed much, I noticed very quickly, in the four years I'd been absent. The war had ended, yes, but the atmosphere was still tense despite or perhaps because of Konohagakure's victory. I knew that the victory was anything but solid, probably won by the skin of the Sannin's teeth, but victory was enough to stop the bloodshed.

Even with the war over, the business of a ninja never ended. As I strolled along through the streets of the seedy Tanzaku Gai, I knew that better than ever.

"And stay out!" I ignored the drunken stumblings and mumblings of the man who was forced out of the bar, walking away faster as he began approaching me. I realized as I walked faster, however, that his pace quickened as well, just fast enough that he was slowly but surely gaining on me. I was sure I was paranoid. The irrationality of the paranoia disappeared when a trio of men, substantially more sober appearing than the first, rushed out of an alleyway, grabbing my arms and attempting to force me to the ground.

"Every kitten has claws, boys," I warned lowly, standing my ground. One of the men leered at me, showing off a smile that was missing more than one yellowed tooth. It was times like this when I regretted not having a hitai-ate. It meant that I couldn't warn stupid men like these that I wasn't worth the time or the injuries they'd get trying to have a bit of fun. On the other hand, it was always nice to put the scum in their place.

"Got ourselves a nice-"

He never got to finish his sentence as I easily kicked him away. I twisted my hands around to break my arms out off the other men's grips and, holding their wrists together, all but swung both of the men towards the door of a casino. That was exceedingly unfortunate for a woman and a young girl who, at the very moment, were exiting that casino. Luckily for me, the woman clearly had ninja training as she managed to punch at the closer man, knocking him and his buddy both unconscious and a safe distance away from her young charge.

I did a double take as I took in the woman's blonde pigtails and the small diamond resting in the middle of her forehead.

"Tsu-chan?" I asked incredulously. _What was Tsunade doing this far from Konoha? Where is her hitai-ate? Who is the little girl?_

After a very tight hug, an invitation to her hotel room, and half a bottle of sake, all of my questions and more were answered.

Tsunade had left Konoha, abandoning it to its own devices after what she perceived as failings of the system. Her lover and her precious little brother were both taken by the war in the last handful of skirmishes against Suna. It was cruel to have lived through so much war, only to be cut down as the light appeared at the end of the tunnel.

Unable to continue living in Konoha, plagued by the memories that the village constantly brought up, Tsunade had taken Shizune- the little girl who happened to be Dan's niece- and left. Just like that. I didn't blame her. She left Konoha for the same reason that I left Uzushio. Sometimes it was healthier to try to move on and let the wound heal with distance. It would leave a scar but that was infinitely better than allowing the wound to tear itself open with every resurfacing memory.

Tsunade and I didn't travel together long. We had left our homes to escape the memories permeating our respective villages but being around me didn't do anything but remind her of the harshness of her village. Conversely, being around Tsunade only made me think of Jiraiya and the life we might have had if we'd been given the opportunity.

We split ways after just a few months, in which Shizune had plenty of time to wrap me around her fingers. With a promise to help train her offensively in the future, the three of us would be drawn back to Tanzaku Gai to meet.

Tsunade and I made it a habit to get together once every other month or so to drink a toast to our fallen loved ones and remember the good memories we had together. I found myself looking forward to those brief flickers of companionship more than I would admit to Tsunade, glad for the ties to my once-home, but somehow I knew that she felt the same.

I found myself wandering the streets of Tanzaku Gai once more. Tsunade would arrive in a few days, I knew, but I had ended up coming early to our meet. The last hunt- which had been for a puppeteer for hire- had taken less time to complete than I had allotted so I had found myself waiting again among the less than reputable streets with time to kill.

Bounty hunting wasn't the nicest business to partake in but it was the easiest way for me to make ends meet without turning my back on my morals. I had standards with every mark I took- I only went after criminals and violent rogues for hire- and I had kept up my name in the Bingo Book with my hunts. I was still known as the Umi Ryokou but, with every month that passed, the name began to lose its meaning. I was the Sea Traveller but hardly anyone remembered why I had travelled across the sea to begin with.

Sighing softly to myself, I deadened my senses to the ever present white noise of such a city. So intent on drowning out the yelling voices, loud machines, even the rain gently pattering against my skin, I didn't notice the figure leaving a hotel until we had collided. The man's arms wrapped around me so quickly that I knew it was instinct alone that had guided his body and he began to release me immediately once he was sure I wasn't going to fall. After a flicker of hesitation from him, I blinked the rain out of my eyes, annoyed at the man.

The annoyance vanished as I recognized the warmth of those arms and the eyes of the man looking down at me.

_Always looking down at me. Stupid Sannin for being so tall..._

"J-Jiraiya." I hadn't allowed myself to say his name, to think his name, for so long but as soon as the name passed my lips, all of those old feelings were thrown back at me with a vengeance. I stopped trying to think about him so long ago because he hadn't sought me out. I had told him where I would be, but he hadn't tried to find me. For over eight years, he hadn't tried to find me. I thought... I thought...

Judging by the relief in Jiraiya's eyes, my old doubts weren't worth anything. He released me from his embrace, but only long enough to wordlessly reach into his pocket and pull something out. Tears formed in my eyes as he gently brushed my hair to one side, slipping the object around my neck and tying it loosely.

"Always."

My hand ghosted up to touch my Uzushio hitai-ate, once again home around my neck, and the tears silently escaped. I didn't give Jiraiya long enough to even think about forming a sentence, though. I threw my arms around the idiot's neck, dragging him down to my level for a searing kiss.


End file.
